TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of lime, nitrogen and plant species on fungal community structure in grassland microcosms
AU - Kennedy, Nabla
AU - Connolly, John
AU - Clipson, Nicholas
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - A microcosm-based approach was used to study
impacts of plant and chemical factors on the fungal
community structure of an upland acidic grassland
soil. Seven plant species typical of both unimproved
and fertilized grasslands were either left unamended
or treated with lime, nitrogen or lime plus nitrogen.
Fungal community structure was assessed by a
molecular approach, fungal automated ribosomal
intergenic spacer analysis (FARISA), while fungal biomass
was estimated by measuring soil ergosterol
content. Addition of nitrogen (with or without lime)
had the largest effect, decreasing soil pH, fungal biomass
and fungal ribotype number, but there was little
corresponding change in fungal community structure.
Although different plant species were associated
with some changes in fungal biomass, this did
not result in significant differences in fungal community
structure between plant species. Addition of lime
alone caused no changes in fungal biomass, ribotype
number or community structure. Overall, fungal community
structure appeared to be more significantly
affected through interactions between plant species
and chemical treatments, as opposed to being
directly affected by changes in individual improvement
factors. These results were in contrast to those
found for the bacterial communities of the same soils,
which changed substantially in response to chemical
(lime and nitrogen) additions.
AB - A microcosm-based approach was used to study
impacts of plant and chemical factors on the fungal
community structure of an upland acidic grassland
soil. Seven plant species typical of both unimproved
and fertilized grasslands were either left unamended
or treated with lime, nitrogen or lime plus nitrogen.
Fungal community structure was assessed by a
molecular approach, fungal automated ribosomal
intergenic spacer analysis (FARISA), while fungal biomass
was estimated by measuring soil ergosterol
content. Addition of nitrogen (with or without lime)
had the largest effect, decreasing soil pH, fungal biomass
and fungal ribotype number, but there was little
corresponding change in fungal community structure.
Although different plant species were associated
with some changes in fungal biomass, this did
not result in significant differences in fungal community
structure between plant species. Addition of lime
alone caused no changes in fungal biomass, ribotype
number or community structure. Overall, fungal community
structure appeared to be more significantly
affected through interactions between plant species
and chemical treatments, as opposed to being
directly affected by changes in individual improvement
factors. These results were in contrast to those
found for the bacterial communities of the same soils,
which changed substantially in response to chemical
(lime and nitrogen) additions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=18944375499&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2005.00748.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2005.00748.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 15892697
AN - SCOPUS:18944375499
VL - 7
SP - 780
EP - 788
JO - Environmental Microbiology
JF - Environmental Microbiology
SN - 1462-2912
IS - 6
ER -