Patterns of Soil Bacteria and Canopy Community Structure Related to Tropical Peatland Development

• DOI: 10.1007/s13157-012-0310-z
• Publication Date: 2012-06-01T19:42:06Z
• Authors: Tiffany G. Troxler; Makoto Ikenaga; Leonard Scinto; Joseph N. Boyer; Richard Condit; Rolando Perez; George D. Gann; Daniel L. Childers
• Keywords: PCR-DGGE; 0106 biological sciences; Bacteria; Respiration; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Phosphorus; Plant; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; Ombrotrophy; Acidobacteria; Bog; Wetland; Enzyme activity; Forest; Environmental Sciences

Natural environmental gradients provide important information about the ecological constraints on plant and microbial community structure. In a tropical peatland of Panama, we investigated community structure (forest canopy and soil bacteria) and microbial community function (soil enzyme activities and respiration) along an ecosystem development gradient that coincided with a natural P gradient. Highly structured plant and bacterial communities that correlated with gradients in phosphorus status and soil organic matter content characterized the peatland. A secondary gradient in soil porewater NH4 described significant variance in soil microbial respiration and β-1-4-glucosidase activity. Covariation of canopy and soil bacteria taxa contributed to a better understanding of ecological classifications for biotic communities with applicability for tropical peatland ecosystems of Central America. Moreover, plants and soils, linked primarily through increasing P deficiency, influenced strong patterning of plant and bacterial community structure related to the development of this tropical peatland ecosystem.