Changes in soil bacterial community profiles associated with ...

40Ryoichi DOI, Pongsak SAHUNALU, Chongrak WACHRINRAT, Sakhan TEEJUNTUK and Katsutoshi SAKURAIcommunity profiles. Thus, the primary objective of this research was the determination of a degradation gradient as a resultof the elimination of the tropical forest by multivariate profiling of soil bacterial communities using antibiotics and carbonsources.The original vegetative type of the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station (SERS), Thailand is dry evergreen forest(DEF), but there are other vegetative types reflecting anthropologic degradation (Kaeoniam et al., 1976). Bare ground (BG)is the most degraded status in the SERS (Doi & Sakurai, 2003). Compositional data sets on soil bacterial communities wereobtained for DEF and BG soils. The multivariate profiling methods, the antibiotic resistance MPN method (method 1), theantibiotic disk diffusion method (method 2) and the Biolog method (Garland & Mills, 1991) were applied. To investigate thepossible utilization of the information given by the above profiling methods, the compositional data sets were analyzed byprincipal component analysis, Wilk’s lambda determination and redundancy analysis.MATERIALS AND METHODSSite descriptionThe Sakaerat Environmental Research Station (SERS), Wang Nam Kiao district, Nakhon Ratchasima (14°30’N, 101°55E)was established in 1967. At the time of establishment, some parts of the area had already been disturbed and deforested byhuman activities (Kaeoniam et al., 1976).The area is 7,808 hectares, and the altitude ranges from 250 to 762 m above sea level. The soil is classified as an Ultisolaccording to the USDA scheme (USDA Soil Conservation Service, 1975). The major vegetative types include dry evergreenforest (DEF), dry deciduous forest (DDF) and plantation plots, and others, such as bare ground (BG) and grassland. Thesevegetative types form a mosaic as shown in Fig. 1 (Kaeoniam et al., 1976). The climate is classified as Aw according to theKöppen classification (Köppen, 1931). The annual precipitation is 1,260 mm and the average temperature is 26°C(Bunyavejchewin, 1986). Approximately, the dry season starts in November and ends in late April. The site receives most ofthe annual precipitation during the rainy season, approximately May to October.Soil sampling was done at the DEF and the BG. The DEF is primarily dominated by Hopea ferrea and Shorea spp. thatform the upper story, 20 to 40 m above ground. A typical DEF fosters more than 1,000 trees (trunk diameter at breastheight, DBH>5 cm) ha -1 , and the total basal area at 1.3 m height exceeds 30 m 2 ha -1 and the above ground biomass is over 200tons ha -1 (Kanzaki et al., 1995). The BG, having no vegetation as a result of the past deforestation and subsequent humanactivities, is also scattered in the plot in a mosaic configuration.Fig1Vegetative typeDDF105ºE 110ºEDEFDDF and DEF20ºNPlantationThailandBangkok15ºNN11SERS22OthersSampling pointsBGDEF5 kmFig. 1. Map of the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station and the sampling points. DEF, DDF and BGindicate dry evergreen forest, dry deciduous forest and bare ground, respectively. The triangle anddiamond indicate sampling points at the DEF and the BG, respectively. The figures in the symbolsare replication numbers.