The aim of the current investigation was to determine whether fungal and bacterial species richness would affect the development of soil structural properties (e.g. aggregate stability and pore size) over a 7-month period and establish whether changes in genetic composition would be brought about by the presence of roots (either mycorrhizal or non-mycorrhizal). Since the premise of the investigation was to quantify the relationship between biological richness and soil structural changes over time, the soils were not pre-incubated prior to the start of the experiment. Therefore, microbial communities were allowed to develop during the course of the 7 month experiment either in the presence of mycorrhizal or non-mycorrhizal roots, or in unplanted soil, thereby allowing root associated changes in community development to be measured. Others, for example Griffiths et al. (2001) and Wertz et al. (2006), incubated soils for 9 or 4.8 months respectively to allow microbial communities to develop a similar biomass before biodiversity/function relationships were studied. In this investigation, the progression of soil structural development together with microbial compositional changes over time and in tandem with root development was characterised.
current investigation
period
over a 7-month
month
experiment
course
7 month
month
soils
incubated
9
months
soils
incubated
4.8 months
months