Ecology

New Environmental Microbiology Study Findings Have Been Reported by Scientists at Kent State University

  2012 JUL 6 (VerticalNews) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology, Environment & Conservation -- Data detailed on Environmental Microbiology have been presented. According to news originating from Kent, Ohio, by VerticalNews correspondents, researchers stated "This study utilized individual senesced sugar maple and beech leaves as natural sampling units within which to quantify saprotrophic fungal diversity. Quantifying communities in individual leaves allowed us to determine if fungi display a classic taxa-area relationship (species richness increasing with area)."

  Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research by the authors from Kent State University, "We found a significant taxa-area relationship for sugar maple leaves, but not beech leaves, consistent with Wright's species-energy theory. This suggests that energy availability as affected plant biochemistry is a key factor regulating the scaling relationships of fungal diversity. We also compared taxa rank abundance distributions to models associated with niche or neutral theories of community assembly, and tested the influence of leaf type as an environmental niche factor controlling fungal community composition. Among rank abundance distribution models, the zero-sum model derived from neutral theory showed the best fit to our data. Leaf type explained only 5% of the variability in community composition. Habitat (vernal pool, upland or riparian forest floor) and site of collection explained >40%, but could be attributed to either niche or neutral processes."

  According to the news editors, the researchers concluded: "Hence, although niche dynamics may regulate fungal communities at the habitat scale, our evidence points towards neutral assembly of saprotrophic fungi on individual leaves, with energy availability constraining the taxa-area relationship."

  For more information on this research see: Taxa-area relationship and neutral dynamics influence the diversity of fungal communities on senesced tree leaves. Environmental Microbiology, 2012;14(6):1488-99. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Environmental Microbiology - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1462-2920)

  The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from L.M. Feinstein, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, United States.

  Keywords for this news article include: Kent, Ohio, United States, North and Central America, Environmental Microbiology.

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