Microbial Community Structure and Function of Soil Following Ecosystem Conversion from Native Forests to Teak Plantation Forests.

ABSTRACT: Soil microbial communities can form links between forest trees and functioning of forest soils, yet the impacts of converting diverse native forests to monoculture plantations on soil microbial communities are limited. This study tested the hypothesis that conversion from a diverse native to monoculture ecosystem would be paralleled by a reduction in the diversity of the soil microbial communities. Soils from Teak (Tectona grandis) plantations and adjacent native forest were examined at two locations in Trinidad. Microbial community structure was determined via Illumina sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes and fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, and by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. Functional characteristics of microbial communities were assessed by

SUBMITTER: de Gannes V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5145857 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature