Relative roles of niche and neutral processes in structuring a soil microbial community

The ISME Journal
Alex J DumbrellAlastair H Fitter

Abstract

Most attempts to identify the processes that structure natural communities have focused on conspicuous macroorganisms whereas the processes responsible for structuring microbial communities remain relatively unknown. Two main theories explaining these processes have emerged; niche theory, which highlights the importance of deterministic processes, and neutral theory, which focuses on stochastic processes. We examined whether neutral or niche-based mechanisms best explain the composition and structure of communities of a functionally important soil microbe, the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Using molecular techniques, we surveyed AM fungi from 425 individual plants of 28 plant species along a soil pH gradient. There was evidence that both niche and neutral processes structured this community. Species abundances fitted the zero-sum multinomial distribution and there was evidence of dispersal limitation, both indicators of neutral processes. However, we found stronger support that niche differentiation based on abiotic soil factors, primarily pH, was structuring the AM fungal community. Host plant species affected AM fungal community composition negligibly compared to soil pH. We conclude that although niche partitioning was ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 30, 2012·The ISME Journal·James C StegenJames K Fredrickson
Jun 7, 2013·The ISME Journal·James C StegenAllan Konopka
Aug 10, 2011·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Catherine BurkeTorsten Thomas
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Jun 4, 2014·The ISME Journal·Peter De Schryver, Olav Vadstein
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