Native tallgrass prairie once dominated much of the midwestern United States, but this biome and the soil microbial diversity that once sustained this highly productive system have been almost completely eradicated by decades of agricultural practices. We reconstructed the soil microbial diversity that once existed in this biome by analyzing relict prairie soils and found that the biogeographic...

The study of microbial diversity has ecological, environmental, and social benefits. It plays a crucial role as integral component of sustainable development (Singh et al. 2008). In recent years microbial diversity has been redefined in terms of taxonomic, genetic and functional diversity targeting species richness as well as real community (Hubell 2001). In any rhizosphere, the metabolic versa...

Container aquatic habitats support a specialized community of macroinvertebrates (e.g. mosquitoes) that feed on microbial communities associated with decaying organic matter. These aquatic habitats are often embedded within and around agricultural lands and are frequently exposed to pesticides. We used a microcosm approach to examine the single and combined effects of two herbicides (atrazine, ...

BACKGROUND Culture-independent molecular surveys targeting conserved marker genes, most notably 16S rRNA, to assess microbial diversity remain semi-quantitative due to variations in the number of gene copies between species. RESULTS Based on 2,900 sequenced reference genomes, we show that 16S rRNA gene copy number (GCN) is strongly linked to microbial phylogenetic taxonomy, potentially under-...

The impact of secondary succession of grassland communities towards a Norway spruce forest on soil microbial community was studied on a belt transect established in the Pol’anaMts., Central Europe. Data on understory vegetation, light availability, soil properties and microbial activity were collected on 147 plots distributed over regular grid. Moreover, distributions of functional groups of mi...

Our perspective on microbial diversity has improved enormously over the past few decades. In large part this has been due to molecular phylogenetic studies that objectively relate organisms. Phylogenetic trees based on gene sequences are maps with which to articulate the elusive concept of biodiversity. Thus, comparative analyses of small-subunit rRNA (16S or 18S rRNA) and other gene sequences ...

There has been little study of whether different variants of tropical rainforest have distinct soil microbial communities and levels of diversity. We compared bacterial and fungal community composition and diversity between primary mixed dipterocarp, secondary mixed dipterocarp, white sand heath, inland heath, and peat swamp forests in Brunei Darussalam, Northwest Borneo by analyzing Illumina M...

Mesophilic bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes varied during composting cycles with high numbers in the initial and final cycles with maximal values in compost C and D, and sharply decreased in the heating cycles. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis were dominated at the initial composting cycle. Whereas, at maturity Bacillus subtilis was the major followed by B.badi...

Mesophilic bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes varied during composting cycles with high numbers in the initial and final cycles with maximal values in compost C and D, and sharply decreased in the heating cycles. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis were dominated at the initial composting cycle. Whereas, at maturity Bacillus subtilis was the major followed by B.badi...

Mesophilic bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes varied during composting cycles with high numbers in the initial and final cycles with maximal values in compost C and D, and sharply decreased in the heating cycles. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis were dominated at the initial composting cycle. Whereas, at maturity Bacillus subtilis was the major followed by B.badi...