Active and total microbial communities in forest soil are largely different and highly stratified during decomposition

Soils of coniferous forest ecosystems are important for the global carbon cycle, and the identification of active microbial decomposers is essential for understanding organic matter transformation in these ecosystems. By the independent analysis of DNA and RNA, whole communities of bacteria and fungi and its active members were compared in topsoil of a Picea abies forest during a period of organic matter decomposition. Fungi quantitatively dominate the microbial community in the litter horizon, while the organic horizon shows comparable amount of fungal and bacterial biomasses. Active microbial populations obtained by RNA analysis exhibit similar diversity as DNA-derived populations, but significantly differ…

• MŠ
  Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy

  Awards: AV0Z50200510, LC06066
• GA
  Grantová Agentura České Republiky

  Awards: AV0Z50200510, LC06066, 526/08/0751
• AS
  Advanced Scientific Computing Research

  Award: AV0Z50200510