Mentor
Trott, Timothy
Document Type
Non-Art Poster
Publication Date
Winter 4-21-2023
Abstract
Abstract - Soil microbial communities are responsible for nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and have symbiotic and parasitic relationships with the plant community. However, little is known about the factors that determine the soil microbial community composition. In this study we examined how spring wildflower diversity and geographical factors influence the soil microbial community composition of the second growth oak hickory forests of White Oak Mountain in Southeast Tennessee. The characterization of the soil microbial community was completed with 16S/18S/ITS rDNA amplicon sequencing of total DNA extracted from soil samples that were normalized for each sample plot. Here we characterize the soil microbial community of White Oak Mountain, demonstrate that an increase in spring wildflower diversity significantly increases bacterial but not fungal or total eukaryotic soil diversity, that slope type is a major factor in the microbial community composition, and that geographical differences between plots are greater than seasonal differences.
Recommended Citation
Gano, Matthew and Trott, Timothy D., "Soil Microbial Community Composition of White Oak Mountain, Tennessee" (2023). Research in Biology. 17.
https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/research_bio/17
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