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Approaches to measuring the contribution of nematodes and protozoa to nitrogen mineralization in the rhizosphere
Author(s) -
Griffiths B.S.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-2743.1990.tb00812.x
Subject(s) - rhizosphere , mineralization (soil science) , grazing , nitrogen cycle , dilution , protozoa , agronomy , nitrogen , soil water , environmental science , ecology , biology , environmental chemistry , chemistry , botany , bacteria , genetics , physics , thermodynamics , organic chemistry
. Nematodes and protozoa assist nitrogen mineralization by consuming bacteria, and this may increase the amount of nitrogen taken up by plants so that it exceeds the amount lost by root exudation. One of the methods used to determine bacterial consumption by protozoan grazers in aquatic ecosystems, namely progressive dilution of the grazing pressure, was tested in a sandy soil. The result suggests that a basic assumption of the technique, that grazing is directly proportional to the dilution factor, is untrue for soils, possibly because the increase in moisture content with increasing dilution enhances grazer activity.