Author
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Sims, Gerald |
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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/10/2010 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Advances in environmental microbiology have stimulated interest in attempting to link microbial phylogeny with function in terrestrial environments. For example, the use of stable isotopes to label phylogenetically informative bio-molecules, referred to as stable isotope probing (SIP), has potential for identifying a microbial population active in a particular process in which C or N is assimilated into the biomass of the target population. SIP is one of the few techniques available that can be used for this purpose effectively in soil, though the approach does have a variety of shortcomings. Herein, we will discuss limitations that broadly apply when addressing microbiology questions related to introduced substances in soil. Compartmentalization due to tortuous pore space is likely responsible for both the great diversity and functional redundancy of unsaturated soils. Such compartmentalization also means that it is difficult to simultaneously expose all of this discontiguous space (and organisms therein) to the same substance. Moreover, the physicochemical environments among soil compartments likely vary profoundly, and the ability to readily measure (and link to microbial data) the pore environment would greatly empower a researcher attempting to interpret molecular microbiology data from soil. We have endeavored to examine some of the issues at hand, along with strategies in use thus far, in order to stimulate discussion as to how we may attempt to address these limitations. We have not solved these problems herein. Instead, SIP will be used as a model for discussion and example data sets will be presented to highlight some areas where progress in working with the soil matrix could have significant payoff for the ecologist that can solve them. |
