Choice of methods for soil microbial community analysis: PLFA maximizes power compared to CLPP and PCR-based approaches

Ramsey, Philip W.; Rillig, Matthias C.; Feris, Kevin P.; Holben, William E.; Gannon, James E.

doi:10.1016/j.pedobi.2006.03.003

Cited by 129 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…PLFA analysis has been shown to be the best approach to discern a treatment effect on soil microbial community and be able to differentiate treatments that are not resolved by PCR-based methods in some cases [42]. In this study, both PLFA analysis and ARISA clearly demonstrated the shift in soil microbial communities associated with tillage practices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Impact of No-Tillage and Conventional Tillage Systems on Soil Microbial Communities

Mathew

Feng

Githinji

et al. 2012

Applied and Environmental Soil Science

253

142

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Soil management practices influence soil physical and chemical characteristics and bring about changes in the soil microbial community structure and function. In this study, the effects of long-term conventional and no-tillage practices on microbial community structure, enzyme activities, and selected physicochemical properties were determined in a continuous corn system on a Decatur silt loam soil. The long-term no-tillage treatment resulted in higher soil carbon and nitrogen contents, viable microbial biomass, and phosphatase activities at the 0-5 cm depth than the conventional tillage treatment. Soil microbial community structure assessed using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis and automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) varied by tillage practice and soil depth. The abundance of PLFAs indicative of fungi, bacteria, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and actinobacteria was consistently higher in the no-till surface soil. Results of principal components analysis based on soil physicochemical and enzyme variables were in agreement with those based on PLFA and ARISA profiles. Soil organic carbon was positively correlated with most of the PLFA biomarkers. These results indicate that tillage practice and soil depth were two important factors affecting soil microbial community structure and activity, and conservation tillage practices improve both physicochemical and microbiological properties of soil.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Impact of No-Tillage and Conventional Tillage Systems on Soil Microbial Communities

Mathew

Feng

Githinji

et al. 2012

Applied and Environmental Soil Science

253

142

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…DiVerent PLFA are unique to diVerent taxonomic groups [e.g., gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and fungi (White et al 1979;Zelles 1999;Leckie 2005)]. While PLFA provide a coarse measure of microbial community composition, recent evidence suggests PLFA analysis is more eVective in detecting treatment diVerences than both functional analyses and molecular techniques (Ramsey et al 2006). A total of 43 compounds were identiWed from the extractions.…”

Section: Microbial Community Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity at the plant–soil interface: microbial abundance and community structure respond to litter mixing

2009

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The interactive eVects of diversity in plants and microbial communities at the litter interface are not well understood. Mixtures of plant litter from diVerent species often decompose diVerently than when individual species decompose alone. Previously, we found that litter mixtures of multiple conifers decomposed more rapidly than expected, but litter mixtures that included conifer and aspen litter did not. Understanding the mechanisms underlying these diversity eVects may help explain existing anomalous decay dynamics and provide a glimpse into the elusive linkage between plant diversity and the fungi and bacteria that carry out decomposition. We examined the microbial communities on litter from individual plant species decomposing both in mixture and alone. We assessed two main hypotheses to explain how the decomposer community could stimulate mixed-litter decomposition above predicted rates: either by being more abundant, or having a diVerent or more diverse community structure than when microbes decompose a single species of litter. Fungal, bacterial and total phospholipid fatty acid microbial biomass increased by over 40% on both conifer and aspen litter types in mixture, and microbial community composition changed signiWcantly when plant litter types were mixed. Microbial diversity also increased with increasing plant litter diversity. While our data provide support for both the increased abundance hypothesis and the altered microbial community hypothesis, microbial changes do not translate to predictably altered litter decomposition and may only produce synergisms when mixed litters are functionally similar.

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“…Nevertheless, Ramsey et al (2006) concluded that FAME analysis provided a rapid and inexpensive way for assessing the microbial community structure in sediments and was even more sensitive in detecting shifts in microbial community than nucleic acid-based methods. FAME analysis could also be used as an efficient way to rapidly screen samples with distinct microbial community composition, prior to molecular analysis for the identification of key functional species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural attenuation of contaminated marine sediments from an old floating dock Part II: Changes of sediment microbial community structure and its relationship with environmental variables

Wang

Tam

2012

Science of The Total Environment

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Choice of methods for soil microbial community analysis: PLFA maximizes power compared to CLPP and PCR-based approaches

Cited by 129 publications

References 58 publications

Impact of No-Tillage and Conventional Tillage Systems on Soil Microbial Communities

Impact of No-Tillage and Conventional Tillage Systems on Soil Microbial Communities

Biodiversity at the plant–soil interface: microbial abundance and community structure respond to litter mixing

Natural attenuation of contaminated marine sediments from an old floating dock Part II: Changes of sediment microbial community structure and its relationship with environmental variables

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