Editing Protura (section)

== Ecology ==
[[File:Protura from Durham, NC, USA..jpg|left|thumb|Proturan found in [[Durham, NC|Durham, United States]]]]

Proturans live chiefly in [[soil]], [[moss]]es, and [[leaf litter]]<ref name="Gullan"/> of moist temperate forests<ref name="Carolina"/> that are not too acidic.<ref name="Gordon">{{cite web |url=http://www.earthlife.net/insects/protura.html |title=Gordon's Protura Page |date=November 11, 2005}}</ref> They have also been found beneath rocks or under the [[Bark (botany)|bark]] of trees,<ref name="CSIRO"/> as well as in animal burrows.<ref name="Florida"/> They are generally restricted to the uppermost {{convert|0.1|m|abbr=on}},<ref name="Gordon"/> but have been found as deep as {{convert|0.25|m|abbr=on}}.<ref name="tolweb">{{cite web |publisher=Tree of Life Web Project |title=Protura |date=January 1, 2002 |url=http://tolweb.org/Protura/8203/2002.01.01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001031740/http://tolweb.org/Protura/8203/2002.01.01 |archive-date=1 October 2007}}</ref> Although they are sometimes regarded as uncommon,<ref name="Carolina"/> proturans are most likely overlooked because of their small size,<ref name="CSIRO"/> as densities of over 90,000 individuals per square metre have been recorded.<ref>{{cite journal |author=J. Krauß & W. Funke |year=1999 |title=Extraordinary high density of Protura in a windfall area of young spruce plants |journal=[[Pedobiologia]] |volume=43 |pages=44–46|doi=10.1016/S0031-4056(24)00489-X |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The diet of proturans has not yet been sufficiently observed to be characterised. In laboratory culture, they may be fed [[Mycorrhiza|mycorrhizal fungi]], dead [[Acari|mites]] and pulverized, dried mushrooms;<ref name="Florida"/> they are believed to feed on decaying vegetable matter and fungi in the wild.<ref name="CSIRO"/><ref name="Carolina"/> The styliform mouthparts suggest the Protura may be fluid feeders, based on evidence that some species suck out the liquid contents of [[hypha|fungal hyphae]].<ref name="Gordon"/>

Proturan species which spend their lives near the soil surface generally produce one new generation of offspring each year; they also possess longer legs. Species living at deeper soil levels have shorter legs and tend to reproduce less seasonally. Some [[Insect migration|migratory]] proturan species move to deeper soil layers for the winter and ascend to shallower soil layers for the summer.<ref name="Gordon"/>

Proturans play a role in [[soil formation]] and composition by speeding decomposition, helping in the breakdown of leaf litter and recycling nutrients into the soil.<ref>{{Cite book|year= 1993| chapter=Diversity of soil arthropods in Canada: systematic and ecological problems |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272335529 |pages=11–50|editor1=G.E. Ball |editor2=H.V. Danks |title= Systematics and Entomology: Diversity, Distribution, Adaptation and Application. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada. 165|publisher = Entomological Society of Canada|author=Behan-Pelletier, V.M. }}</ref>