PAPER: Soil bacterial communities and functions

Protecting the unseen majority: Land cover and environmental factors linked with soil bacterial communities and functions in New Zealand

January 2021

Wakelin SA, Forrester ST, Condron LM, O'Callaghan M, Clinton P, McDougal RL, Davis M, Smaill SJ, Addison S 2021. Protecting the unseen majority: Land cover and environmental factors linked with soil bacterial communities and functions in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 45(1).

Abstract

In this study, we tested for the impacts of land-cover type (native forest, planted forest with exotic conifers, and pastoral agriculture) on soil bacterial communities and their functional potential, using environmental microarrays (PhyloChip and GeoChip, respectively). This evaluation was conducted across four environmentally different locations (Hokitika, Banks Peninsula, Craigieburn, and Eyrewell). The environment from which samples were collected was the largest and most significant factor associated with variation in bacterial community assemblage and function. As such, novel pockets of bacterial biodiversity, with discrete ecosystem functions may be present in New Zealand.

Keywords

virus; Phytophthora pluvialis; dsRNA; qPCR; New Zealand