COMPARISON OF SOIL BACTERIAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE LIVING UNDER SEVERAL PLANTS IN PERMAFROST REGION

Abstract

Plants and microbes play key roles within the nutrient cycles and biogeochemical processes of Arctic permafrost region, and it is very important to understand their relationship to expect the condition of future atmosphere. However, the study of relation between plants and microbes has been scarce. As a first step to elucidate relationship between plants and microbes in permafrost region, we examined and compared bacterial community structure living in the soil under several plants. In this study, we collected soil samples under four plants which are dominant in sampling site (Council, Alaska) : Sphagnum sp. (moss), Cladonia sp. (lichen), Erophorum scheuchzeri (tussock) and Betula nana (dwarf birch). The bacterial community structure in soil was investigated based on 16S rRNA genes using pyrosequencing. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted to find the difference between each bacterial community structure.