1 Title: 2 3 The detritus-based microbial-invertebrate food web contributes disproportionately 4 to carbon and nitrogen cycling in the Arctic 5 6 7 8 Authors: 9 Amanda M. Koltz1*, Ashley Asmus2, Laura Gough3, Yamina Pressler4 and John C. 10 Moore4,5 11 1. Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, Box 1137, St. 12 Louis, MO 63130 13 2. Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 14 76109 15 3. Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, MD 16 21252 17 4. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Ft. 18 Collins, CO 80523 USA 19 5. Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State 20 University, Ft. Collins, CO 80523 USA 21 *Correspondence: Amanda M. Koltz, tel. 314-935-8794, fax 314-935-4432, 22 e-mail:
[email protected] 23 24 25 26 Type of article: 27 Submission to Polar Biology Special Issue on “Ecology of Tundra Arthropods” 28 29 30 Keywords: 31 Food web structure, energetic food web model, nutrient cycling, C mineralization, 32 N mineralization, invertebrate, Arctic, tundra 33 1 34 Abstract 35 36 The Arctic is the world's largest reservoir of soil organic carbon and 37 understanding biogeochemical cycling in this region is critical due to the potential 38 feedbacks on climate. However, our knowledge of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) 39 cycling in the Arctic is incomplete, as studies have focused on plants, detritus, 40 and microbes but largely ignored their consumers. Here we construct a 41 comprehensive Arctic food web based on functional groups of microbes (e.g., 42 bacteria and fungi), protozoa, and invertebrates (community hereafter referred to 43 as the invertebrate food web) residing in the soil, on the soil surface and within 44 the plant canopy from an area of moist acidic tundra in northern Alaska.