Linking biogeochemical variability and microbial community structure in forest soils: Abies pinsapo-fir forests as a study case

Abstract

Torres-Cañabate, P., Hinojosa, M.B., García Ruíz, R., Daniell, T., Carreira, J.A. (2009). Linking biogeochemical variability and microbial community structure in forest soils: Abies pinsapo-fir forests as a study case. Ecosistemas 18(2):91-102.

Linking biogeochemical variability and microbial community structure in forest soils: Abies pinsapo-fir forests as a study case. Traditionally,soil has been considered as a "black box", connected to the rest of the ecosystem by input and output fluxes, where nutrients are transformed mainly through processes controlled by unknown microorganisms. The development of new molecular techniques has increased our knowledge about microbiological soil communities. Recent studies reveal that change in nutrient availability in forest soils is associated with shifts in the soil community structure. We have used Abies pinsapo-fir forests as a model case to this regard, since they show a marked among-sites biogeochemical variability due to changes in lithology and successional status, while Mediterranean seasonality determines high intra-year variability in nutrients availability. Moreover, A. pinsapo forests that are either N-limited or N-saturated do exist. Using terminal restriction fragments length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis we have demonstrated that these patterns of biogeochemicalvariability are associated with shifts in the structure of the soil bacterial communities.