Understanding the physiology and ecology of springtails and their responses to environmental conditions in the soil is important for many aspects of soil ecology. Many springtails spend most of their lives in the soil where humidity is high, and several euedaphic species are considered semi-aquatic animals. Climate models predict that summer soil moisture in many regions will decrease in the future, and our aim with this laboratory study was to investigate the importance of soil water potentials in the range between field capacity to the wilting point on the survival, growth and reproduction of the euedaphic springtail, Folsomia candida Willem. Our results show that reproduction was, by far, the most sensitive life-history trait. Reproduction stopped already at very modest soil water potentials (-15 kPa), which did not influence body water content or growth. These results suggest that recruitment in populations of F. candida is restricted to periods where soil moisture is high. Body growth and activities of juveniles and adults, however, may continue in moderately dry soil until the soil water potential reaches ca. −100 kPa. Should severe drought occur, normal body functions are paused, but surviving adults and juvenile individuals would contribute to the resilience of this species at low soil moisture. We discuss the implications of drought for the ecological functions of springtails.

了解跳虫的生理学和生态学及其对土壤环境条件的反应对于土壤生态学的许多方面都很重要。许多跳虫大部分时间都生活在湿度高的土壤中，一些原生态物种被认为是半水生动物。气候模型预测，未来许多地区的夏季土壤水分将减少，我们通过本实验室研究的目的是调查土壤水势在田间持水量到萎蔫点之间的范围内对植物生存、生长和繁殖的重要性。 euedaphic springtail, Folsomia candida威廉。我们的研究结果表明，到目前为止，繁殖是最敏感的生活史特征。繁殖已经在非常适度的土壤水势（-15 kPa）时停止，这不会影响身体含水量或生长。这些结果表明，假丝酵母​​种群的招募仅限于土壤水分高的时期。然而，幼体和成体的身体生长和活动可能会在适度干燥的土壤中继续进行，直到土壤水势达到约。-100 千帕。如果发生严重干旱，正常的身体功能会暂停，但幸存的成年人和青少年个体将有助于该物种在低土壤湿度下的恢复力。我们讨论了干旱对跳虫生态功能的影响。