Agricultural constraints on microbial resource use and niche breadth in drainage ditches.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Microorganisms govern important ecosystems processes, in particular the degradation of organic matter (OM). However, microorganisms are rarely considered in efforts to monitor ecosystem health and functioning. Evidence suggests that environmental perturbations can adversely affect microbial communities and their ability to use available substrates. However, whether impacted microbial efficiencies in extracting and utilizing the available resources (resource niche breadth) translate to changes in OM degradation in natural systems remains poorly understood.

Methods

Here we evaluated effects of differences in OM related to agricultural land use (OM derived from ditches adjacent to grasslands, bulb fields and a pristine dune area) on microbial functioning. We specific

SUBMITTER: Hunting ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5742521 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature