Journal ArticleDOI
The use of phospholipid fatty acid analysis to estimate bacterial and fungal biomass in soil
Åsa Frostegård,Erland Bååth +1 more
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
The cell content of 12 bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) was determined in bacteria extracted from soil by homogenization/centrifugation and the soil content of the PLFA 18:2ω6 was correlated with the ergosterol content, which supports the use of this PLFA as an indicator of fungal biomass.Abstract:
The cell content of 12 bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) was determined in bacteria extracted from soil by homogenization/centrifugation. The bacteria were enumerated using acridine orange direct counts. An average of 1.40×10-17 mol bacterial PLFA cell-1 was found in bacteria extracted from 15 soils covering a wide range of pH and organic matter contents. With this factor, the bacterial biomass based on PLFA analyses of whole soil samples was calculated as 1.0–4.8 mg bacterial C g-1 soil C. The corresponding range based on microscopical counts was 0.3–3.0 mg bacterial C g-1 soil C. The recovery of bacteria from the soils using homogenization/centrifugation was 2.6–16% (mean 8.7%) measured by PLFA analysis, and 12–61% (mean 26%) measured as microscopical counts. The soil content of the PLFA 18:2ω6 was correlated with the ergosterol content (r=0.92), which supports the use of this PLFA as an indicator of fungal biomass. The ratio 18:2ω6 to bacterial PLFA is therefore suggested as an index of the fungal:bacterial biomass ratio in soil. An advantage with the method based on PLFA analyses is that the same technique and even the same sample is used to determine both fungi and bacteria. The fungal:bacterial biomass ratio calculated in this way was positively correlated with the organic matter content of the soils (r=0.94).read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Fatty acid patterns of phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides in the characterisation of microbial communities in soil: a review
TL;DR: Results from principal component analysis showed that determining the levels of fatty acids present in both low and high concentrations is essential in order to correctly identify microorganisms and accurately classify them into taxonomically defined groups.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial diversity and soil functions
Paolo Nannipieri,Judith Ascher,Maria Teresa Ceccherini,Loretta Landi,Giacomo Pietramellara,Giancarlo Renella +5 more
TL;DR: A better understanding of the relations between microbial diversity and soil functions requires not only the use of more accurate assays for taxonomically and functionally characterizing DNA and RNA extracted from soil, but also high-resolution techniques with which to detect inactive and active microbial cells in the soil matrix.
Journal ArticleDOI
Embracing the unknown: disentangling the complexities of the soil microbiome.
TL;DR: Although most soil microorganisms remain undescribed, the field is now poised to identify how to manipulate and manage the soil microbiome to increase soil fertility, improve crop production and improve the understanding of how terrestrial ecosystems will respond to environmental change.
Journal ArticleDOI
Contrasting Soil pH Effects on Fungal and Bacterial Growth Suggest Functional Redundancy in Carbon Mineralization
TL;DR: The influence of pH on the relative importance of the two principal decomposer groups in soil, fungi and bacteria, was investigated along a continuous soil pH gradient at Hoosfield acid strip at Rothamsted Research.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nitrogen additions and microbial biomass: a meta-analysis of ecosystem studies
TL;DR: It is suggested that N enrichment could reduce microbial biomass in many ecosystems, with corresponding declines in soil CO2 emissions.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Determination of the sedimentary microbial biomass by extractible lipid phosphate.
TL;DR: The high content of plasmalogen phospholipids in these sediments suggests that the anaerobic prokaryotic Clostridia are found in the aerobic sedimentary horizon, which would require anaer aerobic microhabitats in the aerated zones.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phospholipid Fatty Acid composition, biomass, and activity of microbial communities from two soil types experimentally exposed to different heavy metals.
TL;DR: Effects on the PLFA patterns were found at levels of metal contamination similar to or lower than those at which effects on ATP content, soil respiration, or total amount of PLFAs had occurred.
Journal ArticleDOI
Shifts in the structure of soil microbial communities in limed forests as revealed by phospholipid fatty acid analysis
TL;DR: Analysis of phospholipid fatty acid composition of soils from two areas in the south of Sweden indicated that the increased pH caused a shift in the bacterial community to more Gram-negative and fewer Gram-positive bacteria, while the amount of fungi was unaffected.
Journal ArticleDOI
A comparative assessment of factors which influence microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen levels in soil
TL;DR: Relationship with soil chemical factors and macroclimate and global distribution of microbial biomass are studied.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial biomass measured as total lipid phosphate in soils of different organic content
TL;DR: In this article, the use of total lipid phosphate as a measure of biomass was evaluated in soils with different organic matter content, and the two digestion methods showed a good linear correlation (r2 = 0.991).