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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2014

  • Title: Microbial community composition at the Barre Woods warming plots
  • Author: Ada L Vilches (University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus)
  • Abstract:

    Earth’s climate is changing and an important factor in this process is the carbon cycle. Soil microbes are key components of soil carbon cycling but it is not fully understood how temperature changes will affect soil microbial community composition and activity overtime. To test how a long-term temperature increase would affect soil microbial community dynamics we used soil DNA and RNA extraction to determine the total community structure and function at the Harvard Forest Barre Woods (2003) warming plots. This experiment consists of two 30m x 30m plots, the heated plots are kept at 5°C above ambient temperature year round. Samples from two layers in the heated and control plots were collected in October 2011. DNA and RNA was extracted and sent to the Joint Genome Institute for metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing. The metagenomics analysis showed bacteria at the domain level and its phylum Proteobacteria had the highest relative mRNA abundance overall in amino acid transport and metabolism function. In the metatranscriptomics analysis the highest abundance was in translation, ribosomal structure and biogenesis function for Proteobacteria. In the metagenomic data through the use of statistical analysis it was observed that the heated treatment had an effect on genes related to carbohydrates, protein metabolism, respiration, and vitamins functions. For the metatranscriptomic data the functions for the affected genes were protein metabolism, carbohydrates, and amino acids and derivatives. This suggests that the microbial community structure and activity could be influenced by the temperature increments occurring in the warming plots.

  • Research Category: Biodiversity Studies; Ecological Informatics and Modelling; Physiological Ecology, Population Dynamics, and Species Interactions; Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics