Does Forest-to-Pasture conversion decrease functional turnover across space? – Measuring the effects of deforestation on the Amazon rainforest soil microbiome
EMSL Project ID
35396
Abstract
The Amazon rainforest plays an essential role in CO2 sequestration. Yet, the impact of anthropogenic activities on microbial communities that participate in this biochemical process needs investigation. As part of an on-going research project on Amazon rainforest CO2 sequestration, we showed that the alpha diversity of soil bacteria increased at taxonomic and phylogenetic levels with forest-to-pasture conversion, while the beta diversity decreased (Rodrigues et al. 2013). This decoupling between alpha (local or individual sample) and beta (between samples) diversities has important ecosystem implications: (1) microbes respond to man-made environmental alterations differently than do plants and animals and (2) microbial communities become homogenized as a consequence of loss of endemic taxa. These implications are best addressed through the use of EMSL’s computational resources for analysis of whole-metagenome, deep sequencing data. Therefore, we are requesting the use of these resources to identify metagenomic profiles and compare functional turnover spatially for different land uses. From this comparison we will we will identify, catalog, and reconstruct metabolic processes occurring in tropical soils, with a particular focus on the diversity, functions, and evolution of enzymes involved in C and N cycle processes.Owing to the large metagenomic dataset recently obtained from 42 samples collected across forest and pasture sites, we request 10,000 node hours to aid in completion of the above aim. If successful, the results will be included as part of a manuscript being prepared for submission on December 01, 2016. To our knowledge, this is the first study designed to determine the Amazon soil microbiome using multi-dimensional biogeographical information for two different land uses.
Project Details
Project type
Limited Scope
Start Date
2016-10-18
End Date
2016-12-18
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members