Abstract
Wetlands provide essential functions to the ecosphere that range from water filtration to flood control. Current methods of evaluating the quality of wetlands include assessing vegetation, soil type, and period of inundation. With recent advances in molecular and bioinformatic techniques, measurement of the structure and composition of soil bacterial communities have become an alternative to traditional methods of ecological assessment. The objective of the current study was to determine whether soil bacterial community composition and structure changed along a single transect in Macon County, AL. Proteobacteria were the most abundant phyla throughout the soils in the study (ranging from 42.1% to 49.9% of total sequences). Phyla Acidobacteria (37.4%) and Verrucomicrobia (7.0%) were highest in wetland soils, Actinobacteria (14.6%) was highest in the transition area, and Chloroflexi (1.6%) was highest in upland soils. Principle Components Analysis (relative abundance) and Principle Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) (Unifrac weighted metric) plots were generated, showing distinction amongst the ecosystem types through clustering by taxonomic abundance and Unifrac scores at 3% dissimilarity, respectively. Selected soil properties (soil organic carbon and phosphatase enzyme activity) also differed significantly in transition soil ecosystem types, while showing predominance in the wetland area. This study suggests that with further study the structure and composition of soil bacterial communities may eventually be an important indicator of ecological impact in wetland ecosystems.
Highlights
Wetlands are considered to be critically essential parts of the biome, as wetland ecosystems provide many ecosystem services, including disturbance regulation, waste treatment, water quality support, habitat enhancement, and food production [1]
Decomposition of organic matter is generally slow and incomplete mineralization in wetlands is due to low aeration [36], which may account for the high percent carbon observed in wetland soil system (WSS) compared to transition soil system (TSS) and upland soil system (USS) [37]
A similar observation was made in this study in which a drop in enzymatic activity for ACP and APA was seen in the TSS compared to the wetland soil
Summary
Wetlands are considered to be critically essential parts of the biome, as wetland ecosystems provide many ecosystem services, including disturbance regulation, waste treatment, water quality support, habitat enhancement, and food production [1]. Despite these ecosystem services provided, there seems to be a growing issue of wetland loss in the United States. Wetlands are currently evaluated based on three distinctive characteristics that they are associated with, namely soils type, vegetation, and hydrology Based on such wetland characteristics, a variety of assessment methods have been developed to evaluate the effectiveness of wetland mitigation. The need for a more sensitive measure of the biological and functional status of wetlands has made itself evident
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
