TY - JOUR
T1 - Molecular profiling of soil animal diversity in natural ecosystems
T2 - Incongruence of molecular and morphological results
AU - Wu, Tiehang
AU - Ayres, Edward
AU - Li, Grace
AU - Bardgett, Richard D.
AU - Wall, Diana H.
AU - Garey, James R.
PY - 2009/4
Y1 - 2009/4
N2 - A major problem facing ecologists is obtaining a complete picture of the highly complex soil community. While DNA-based methods are routinely used to assess prokaryote community structure and diversity in soil, approaches for measuring the total faunal community are not yet available. This is due to difficulties such as designing primers specific to a range of soil animals while excluding other eukaryotes. Instead, scientists use laborious and specialized taxonomic methods for extracting and identifying soil fauna. We examined this problem using DNA sequencing to profile soil animal diversity across two Alaskan ecosystems and compare the results with morphological analyses. Of 5267 sequences, representing 549 operational taxonomic units (OTU), only 18 OTUs were common to both sites. Representatives included 8 phyla, dominated by arthropods and nematodes. This is the most comprehensive molecular analysis of soil fauna to date, and provides a tool to rapidly assess a missing component of soil biodiversity.
AB - A major problem facing ecologists is obtaining a complete picture of the highly complex soil community. While DNA-based methods are routinely used to assess prokaryote community structure and diversity in soil, approaches for measuring the total faunal community are not yet available. This is due to difficulties such as designing primers specific to a range of soil animals while excluding other eukaryotes. Instead, scientists use laborious and specialized taxonomic methods for extracting and identifying soil fauna. We examined this problem using DNA sequencing to profile soil animal diversity across two Alaskan ecosystems and compare the results with morphological analyses. Of 5267 sequences, representing 549 operational taxonomic units (OTU), only 18 OTUs were common to both sites. Representatives included 8 phyla, dominated by arthropods and nematodes. This is the most comprehensive molecular analysis of soil fauna to date, and provides a tool to rapidly assess a missing component of soil biodiversity.
KW - Biodiversity
KW - Community structure
KW - DNA sequence
KW - Morphological analysis
KW - Phylogenetic analysis
KW - Soil
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=62049086193&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2009.02.003
DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2009.02.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:62049086193
SN - 0038-0717
VL - 41
SP - 849
EP - 857
JO - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
JF - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
IS - 4
ER -