Impact of protists on the activity and structure of the bacterial community in a rice field soil.

ABSTRACT: Flooded rice fields have become a model system for the study of soil microbial ecology. In Italian rice fields, in particular, aspects from biogeochemistry to molecular ecology have been studied, but the impact of protistan grazing on the structure and function of the prokaryotic community has not been examined yet. We compared an untreated control soil with a gamma-radiation-sterilized soil that had been reinoculated with a natural bacterial assemblage. In order to verify that the observed effects were due to protistan grazing and did not result from sterilization, we set up a third set of microcosms containing sterilized soil that had been reinoculated with natural assemblage bacteria plus protists. The spatial and temporal changes in the protistan and prokaryotic communities were examin

SUBMITTER: Murase J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1538762 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature