PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 23: Soil Ecology
Wednesday, August 10, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Plant-Microbe Associations: investigating controls on microbial community composition in restored and remnant grassland communities.

Swedo, Barbara ¹, Reynolds, H¹, ¹ Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

ABSTRACT- Soil microbial communities are incredibly diverse, with a single teaspoon of soil containing thousands of different species. Identifying the important controls on microbial community structure is a key challenge for soil ecologists, and vegetation type, soil texture, and site quality have all been shown to be important. I sampled soil bacterial communities from exotic and native plant communities at three different prairie sites (two remnant prairies and one recently-restored site) on two different soil types in south-central Indiana. TRFLP-analysis of 16SrDNA was used to compare bacterial communities from each site. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling revealed significant differences among microbial communities with respect to soil type and site history, and weaker effects were observed with respect to plant nativity. A subsequent greenhouse experiment, however, found no differences in rhizobacterial community due to plant species or nativity. These results suggest that soil type and site history are stronger determinants of microbial community structure than plant species or nativity.

Key words: soil microbial diversity, TRFLP analysis, exotic plant species