ADVANCES IN SOIL MICROBIAL ECOLOGY AND THE BIODIVERSITY

Recent studies on the colony formation of soil bacteria opened the way to categorize soil bacteria into colony forming curve (CFC) groups of different growth rates. A bacterial culture collection comprising org anisms from every CFC group is called an ecocollection (EC). Outlines of ECs of paddy soil 1992 and grassland soil 1987 and 1992 were descri bed. Phylogenetic studies by 16S rDNA sequencing showed a great divers ity of culture strains of the ecocollections. A set of alternative con cepts was proposed; the active and the quiescent forms of bacterial ce lls in soil. The former is able to be cultivated and thus counted by t he plate method, while the latter is not unless it transforms into the former. Based on the results several points required for extensive ca taloguing of soil bacteria were noted.