Dispersal limitation and the assembly of soil Actinobacteria communities in a long-term chronosequence.

ABSTRACT: It is uncertain whether the same ecological forces that structure plant and animal communities also shape microbial communities, especially those residing in soil. We sought to uncover the relative importance of present-day environmental characteristics, climatic variation, and historical contingencies in shaping soil actinobacterial communities in a long-term chronosequence. Actinobacteria communities were characterized in surface soil samples from four replicate forest stands with nearly identical edaphic and ecological properties, which range from 9500 to 14,000 years following glacial retreat in Michigan. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) profiles and clone libraries of the actinobacterial 16S rRNA gene were constructed in each site for phenetic and phylogenetic

SUBMITTER: Eisenlord SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3399143 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature