Michael S. Strickland

TL;DR: Soil pH was the best predictor of bacterial community composition across this landscape while fungal community composition was most closely associated with changes in soil nutrient status, suggesting specific changes in edaphic properties, not necessarily land-use type itself, may best predict shifts in microbialcommunity composition across a given landscape.

TL;DR: A meta-analysis of published data identifies robust patterns in the structure of belowground microbial and faunal communities at broad scales which may be explained by universal mechanisms that regulate belowground biota across biomes.

TL;DR: Many of the potential reasons why expectations related to fungal:bacterial dominance were not met are explored, highlighting areas where future research, especially furthering a basic understanding of the ecology of bacteria and fungi, is needed.

TL;DR: It is found that rates of carbon dioxide production from litter decomposition were dependent upon the microbial inoculum, with differences in the microbial community alone accounting for substantial variation in total carbon mineralized.

TL;DR: Examination of soils using viability PCR based on the photoreactive DNA-intercalating dye propidium monoazide found that, on average, 40% of both prokaryotic and fungal DNA was extracellular or from cells that were no longer intact, implying that this ‘relic DNA’ remaining in soil after cell death can obscure treatment effects, spatiotemporal patterns and relationships between microbial taxa and environmental conditions.