Microscale Heterogeneity of the Spatial Distribution of Organic Matter Can Promote Bacterial Biodiversity in Soils: Insights From Computer Simulations.

ABSTRACT: There is still no satisfactory understanding of the factors that enable soil microbial populations to be as highly biodiverse as they are. The present article explores in silico the hypothesis that the heterogeneous distribution of soil organic matter, in addition to the spatial connectivity of the soil moisture, might account for the observed microbial biodiversity in soils. A multi-species, individual-based, pore-scale model is developed and parameterized with data from 3 Arthrobacter sp. strains, known to be, respectively, competitive, versatile, and poorly competitive. In the simulations, bacteria of each strain are distributed in a 3D computed tomography (CT) image of a real soil and three water saturation levels (100, 50, and 25%) and spatial heterogeneity levels (high,

SUBMITTER: Portell X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6079633 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature