Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate, Utah State University, 4820 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, USA.
ISME J. 2010 Sep;4(9):1099-107. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2010.42. Epub 2010 Apr 8.
Relationships between soil microbial diversity and soil function are the subject of much debate. Process-level analyses have shown that microbial function varies with soil type and responds to soil management. However, such measurements cannot determine the role of community structure and diversity in soil function. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of gene frequency and diversity, measured by microarray analysis, on soil processes. The study was conducted in an agro-ecosystem characterized by contrasting management practices and soil types. Eight pairs of adjacent commercial organic and conventional strawberry fields were matched for soil type, strawberry variety, and all other environmental conditions. Soil physical, chemical and biological analyses were conducted including functional gene microarrays (FGA). Soil physical and chemical characteristics were primarily determined by soil textural type (coarse vs fine-textured), but biological and FGA measures were more influenced by management (organic vs conventional). Organically managed soils consistently showed greater functional activity as well as FGA signal intensity (SI) and diversity. Overall FGA SI and diversity were correlated to total soil microbial biomass. Functional gene group SI and/or diversity were correlated to related soil chemical and biological measures such as microbial biomass, cellulose, dehydrogenase, ammonium and sulfur. Management was the dominant determinant of soil biology as measured by microbial gene frequency and diversity, which paralleled measured microbial processes.
土壤微生物多样性与土壤功能之间的关系是当前争论的焦点。过程水平的分析表明，微生物功能随土壤类型而变化，并对土壤管理做出响应。然而，这些测量方法无法确定群落结构和多样性在土壤功能中的作用。本研究旨在探讨通过微阵列分析测量的基因频率和多样性对土壤过程的作用。该研究在一个具有不同管理实践和土壤类型的农业生态系统中进行。为了匹配土壤类型、草莓品种和所有其他环境条件，选择了 8 对相邻的商业有机和传统草莓田。进行了土壤物理、化学和生物分析，包括功能基因微阵列（FGA）。土壤物理和化学特性主要由土壤质地类型（粗质地与细质地）决定，但生物和 FGA 测量受管理（有机与常规）的影响更大。有机管理的土壤始终表现出更高的功能活性以及 FGA 信号强度（SI）和多样性。总体而言，FGA SI 和多样性与土壤微生物生物量呈正相关。功能基因组 SI 和/或多样性与相关的土壤化学和生物学测量值（如微生物生物量、纤维素、脱氢酶、铵和硫）相关。管理是通过微生物基因频率和多样性来衡量土壤生物学的主要决定因素，这与测量的微生物过程相吻合。
