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Seasonal Variability in Abundance and Diversity of Soil Gymnamoebae Along a Short Transect in Southeastern USA
Author(s) -
BASS POLLY,
BISCHOFF PAUL J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2001.tb00182.x
Subject(s) - transect , soil water , abundance (ecology) , biology , water content , bulk density , diversity index , precipitation , ecology , zoology , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , geography , species richness , geotechnical engineering , meteorology
. The abundance and diversity of gymnamoebae in three subsoils varying in compaction and water retention along a 1.2 m transect were documented as the local climatic conditions changed from late summer 1999 through mid‐summer 2000. The mean density of gymnamoebae for the loose soil (i,655/g) was greater than either the most compact (1,468/g) or moderately compact soil (851/g). Minimum densities occurred in middle and late summer for all soils while significant (F = 38.803, ≤ 0.0002) density peaks at 3,212/g occurred in early summer in the most compact soil, 2,928/g in the least compact, and 2,209/g in the moderately compact soil, Limax non‐eruptive gymnamoebae (mt 2) correlated ( r = 0.49 , p ≤ 0.016 ) with moisture while eruptive limax gymnamoebae (mt 3) correlated with temperature ( r = 0.07 , p ≤ 0.024 ), moisture ( r = 0.58 , p ≤ 0.001 ) and precipitation ( r = 0.46 , p ≤ 0.029 ). Flattened or discoid amoebae (mt 4) dominated throughout most of the survey, and the two limax groups showed inverse relationships, Chisquare analyses showed significant differences in the numbers of limax eruptive gymnamoebae compared to all other morphotypes on all but one sampling period.