Award details

Soil microbial community function and diversity

Reference	BBS/E/C/00004961
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Penny Hirsch
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	703,452
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/2008
End date	31/03/2012
Duration	48 months

Abstract

Soil fertility is sustained by microbial communities, which are vast, diverse, and largely undescribed. Since the relationship between the size, diversity and activity of microbial populations and soil 'quality' is unclear, it is currently difficult to predict the effects on these processes of changes in land use and management and the spatio-temporal scale on which they vary. Some functions undertaken by specific microbial groups, measured in situ, indicate the size of the active population but cannot describe its diversity or any related, inactive microbes. This project tests the hypothesis that genetically diverse populations are essential for resilience to perturbations in key soil functions such as nutrient cycling and organic pollutant degradation in a changing environment. It uses molecular approaches to provide baseline data needed to demonstrate the significance of any observed changes in microbial diversity and activity in response to stresses. Using DNA and RNA based methods that define organism identity, detailed examination of specific communities is now possible, whether or not the organisms can be isolated and cultured. Conventional, quantitative and RT PCR methods, together with metagenomic and microarray approaches, estimate microbial diversity, relative abundance and identify which organisms are active. This research is at the forefront of understanding the complex biological systems in soil and is dependent on the long-term experiments at Rothamsted, which provide relatively stable microbial communities for comparison under different nutrient/pollutant and cropping regimes

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Genes & Developmental Biology (GDB)
Research Topics	Microbiology, Soil Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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