G. Wieland et al., Variation of microbial communities in soil, rhizosphere, and rhizoplane inresponse to crop species, soil type, and crop development, APPL ENVIR, 67(12), 2001, pp. 5849-5854
We investigated the influence of plant species, soil type, and plant develo
pment time on the shaping of microbial communities in soil and in associati
on with roots. The sample group consisted of a total of 32 microcosms in th
ree habitats: soil, rhizosphere, and rhizoplane. Communities were represent
ed by the patterns of a sequence-specific separation of rRNA target sequenc
es. Effects of experimental parameters were classified by a cluster analysi
s of pattern similarities. The type of plant species (clover, bean, or alfa
lfa) had the greatest effect in plant-associated habitats and also affected
soil patterns. Plant development had a minor habitat-dependent effect that
was partly obscured by replicate variation. The results stress the applica
bility of biased community representations in an analysis of induced variat
ion.