Linked Life Data

19674041

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/19674041

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
11
pubmed:dateCreated
2009-10-20
pubmed:abstractText
Although belowground ecosystems have been studied extensively and soil biota play integral roles in biogeochemical processes, surprisingly we have a limited understanding of global patterns in belowground biomass and community structure. To address this critical gap, we conducted a meta-analysis of published data (> 1300 datapoints) to compare belowground plant, microbial and faunal biomass across seven of the major biomes on Earth. We also assembled data to assess biome-level patterns in belowground microbial community composition. Our analysis suggests that variation in microbial biomass is predictable across biomes, with microbial biomass carbon representing 0.6-1.1% of soil organic carbon (r(2) = 0.91) and 1-20% of total plant biomass carbon (r(2) = 0.42). Approximately 50% of total animal biomass can be found belowground and soil faunal biomass represents < 4% of microbial biomass across all biomes. The structure of belowground microbial communities is also predictable: bacterial community composition and fungal : bacterial gene ratios can be predicted reasonably well from soil pH and soil C : N ratios respectively. Together these results identify robust patterns in the structure of belowground microbial and faunal communities at broad scales which may be explained by universal mechanisms that regulate belowground biota across biomes.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Nov
pubmed:issn
1461-0248
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
12
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1238-49
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2009
pubmed:articleTitle
Global patterns in belowground communities.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA. noah.fierer@colorado.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't