Stochastic distribution of small soil eukaryotes resulting from high dispersal and drift in a local environment.

ABSTRACT: A central challenge in ecology is to understand the relative importance of processes that shape diversity patterns. Compared with aboveground biota, little is known about spatial patterns and processes in soil organisms. Here we examine the spatial structure of communities of small soil eukaryotes to elucidate the underlying stochastic and deterministic processes in the absence of environmental gradients at a local scale. Specifically, we focus on the fine-scale spatial autocorrelation of prominent taxonomic and functional groups of eukaryotic microbes. We collected 123 soil samples in a nested design at distances ranging from 0.01 to 64 m from three boreal forest sites and used 454 pyrosequencing analysis of Internal Transcribed Spacer for detecting Operational Taxonomic Units of major eu

SUBMITTER: Bahram M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4796928 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature