Spatial Analysis of Soil Bacterial Communities across different soil profiles

Abstract

In marginal environments like UAE, it is difficult to find agriculturally suitable land due to prevailing conditions like extreme temperature, high soil salinity and lack of sustainable water resources. About eighty five percent of food in UAE is imported from outside countries, which calls for an urgent need to increase agricultural production using innovative measures. Numerous studies suggest that agricultural productivity is strongly related to soil microbial activity. Moreover, studying soil bacterial communities can help in finding measures to improve soil fertility and productivity in order to boost food security. In this study, a metagenomic approach with novel data collection was used to study spatial variations of soil bacterial communities located at different sites in Abu Dhabi. Information about spatial variations can help in understanding the spatial variability of bacterial populations and their activities at different soil depths. And also how it influences plant growth and community structure. Most of the studies done on bacterial communities are based on the top soil layers which is less likely to provide a detailed picture of the actual bacterial diversity present and their role in soil ecosystems. This is because the deeper bacterial communities might have a crucial role to play in soil formation and nutrient cycling processes. In this study, we examined and compared the presence and relative abundance of bacterial taxa present at different soil depths in different soil samples. We also assessed how depth influences bacterial community structure. An extensive database of similar studies was created to set our samples into a more global context, with respect to bacterial compositional differences and similarities. We also analyzed and found significant bacterial co-occurrence networks with plant growth promoting and bioremediation potentials. The individual bacterial taxa were found to be highly variable and we found no standard change in bacterial diversity with respect to change in soil depths. The studied sites were found to have agricultural potential as suggested by the Abu Dhabi soil survey. This study can serve as a reference for exploring other soil habitats for agricultural and bioremediation potentials.

Date of Award	May 2014
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Andreas Henschel (Supervisor)