Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is one the major crops produced worldwide. However, soybean is susceptible to many diseases. Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) disease caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary is considered one of the most important fungal diseases of soybean. It can be controlled by chemicals (e.g. fungicides), by breeding cultivars with disease resistance and by cultural control (e.g. increasing the width between rows, reducing plant populations). A promising and complementary method of controlling SSR disease in the field is the application of biological control agents. Biological control agents introduced in a soil environment will interact with other soil food web organisms, as do the pathogenic organism and infected plants, which may change the genetic and functional diversity in soil microbial communities. Profiling these changes may lead to an improved understanding of the interactions between these players (biological control agents, pathogens, soil biota and plants) in the biological control phenomenom, permiting us to exploit naturally-occurring ecological relationships and develop more sustainable approaches to control soybean diseases. Fatty acid biomarkers analysis was used to profile microbial communities in soils. Two laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the methods used for extraction and profiling the fatty acid biomarkers from soil samples with a range of soil properties (clay content, organic matter content), The first study investigated the best solvent mixture for recovering fatty acid biomarkers from soil using an automated pressurized solvent extraction (PSE) system. Solvent mixtures containing chloroform and methanol were more efficient at extracting fatty acids from agricultural soils than hexane:2-propanol and acetone. The second study presented an exploratory pyrolysis-mass spectrometry technique to rapidly fingerprint soil lipids extracted from different agroecosystems. Pyrolysis-mass spectrometry discriminated among soils and crop production systems in the same way as the fatty acid profiling. I also report on the efficicacy of biological control agents to control Sclerotinia stem rot disease in soybean. A two-year study was conducted in soybean fields under conventional or no tillage to determine whether Trichoderma virens (SoilGard(TM)) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (a mixture of Glomus intraradices and G. mosseae ), used alone or in combination, could reduce sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) disease incidence. Generally, SSR disease indicators, as well as the soybean yield, were not affected significantly by the biological control treatments. I then studied whether changes in microbial community composition were related to the inoculation of the biological control agents and the disease incidence in soybean fields. Inoculation of biological control agents changes the expression of many soil fatty acids during both years of the trial. Also, in the plots with severely diseased plants, fatty acids biomarkers of gram positive and actinomycetes bacteria were significantly greater than in plots with healthy plants. I conclude that further improvement in laboratory techniques and procedures will permit researchers to efficiently extract and characterize soil lipids, providing new insight into soil organic matter dynamics and soil microbial ecology. Further study will be needed to verify the efficacy and optimize the application method, dose and timing of biocontrol agents to provide protection against SSR disease in soybean fields.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Aug. 12, 2008. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Master of Science Degree in Biology (Ecology-track)." "A thesis entitled"--at head of title. Bibliography: leaves 44-55.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2011. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-135). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Submitted by (lucia.rodrigues@ufrpe.br) on 2017-03-23T15:01:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Saulo Alves Santos de Oliveira.pdf: 568684 bytes, checksum: 71c7b0fec544e230da1790c5e7f73322 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-23T15:01:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Saulo Alves Santos de Oliveira.pdf: 568684 bytes, checksum: 71c7b0fec544e230da1790c5e7f73322 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-22 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is a crop of great economical and strategic importance, mainly for the Northeast region of Brazil. In the state of Pernambuco, the main cowpea production areas are located in Agreste and Sertão regions. Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. tracheiphilum, is an important cowpea disease worldwide. This work aimed to evaluate the potential of green manure in inducing suppressiveness to Fusarium wilt as well as to identify the factors related to suppressivity. The experiment was carried out in greenhouse conditions. A sandy loam soil with no native populations of F. oxysporum was used. Eleven treatments were compared after soil infestation with F. oxysporum f.sp. tracheiphilum. Different combinations of non-cropping, cowpea (cv. BR-17 Gurguéia) and green manures (showy crotalaria, sunn hemp, mucuna, lablab, canavalia and pigeonpea), in four growing seasons, were compared. Disease severity evaluations along with microbial and chemical characteristics of soil were carried out at the end of the 2nd and 4th growing seasons. For the two evaluations, the incorporation of sunn hemp into the soil led to smallest levels of severity (SVD) of cowpea Fusarium wilt. There was no correlationbetween F. oxysporum population density in soil and SVD. For the first evaluation (2nd season), SVD was negative correlated (r = -0.69) with Bacillus sp. population. Thus, this bacteria was regarded a suppressiveness factor. For the 4th growing season, no significant correlation between SVD and soil microbiological characteristics was found. These results suggest that other mechanisms are involved in disease suppressivenes. Despite the reduction in SVD by sunn hemp incorporation, more studies are necessary to clarify the factors inducing suppressiveness to Fusarium wilt before sunn hemp is recommended for commercial plantations. It is worth considering that the disease suppression in greenhouse conditions does not guarantee similar levels of suppression in commercially cultivated areas under diverse conditions of soil, environment conditions, and management. / O caupi (Vigna unguiculata) é uma cultura de grande importância econômica e estratégica, principalmente para a região Nordeste do Brasil. No estado de Pernambuco, as principais áreas de produção concentram-se nas microrregiões do Agreste e Sertão. A murcha-de-fusário, causada por Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. tracheiphilum, é uma importante doença do caupi nas regiões Norte e Nordeste do Brasil. Este estudo objetivou avaliar o potencial da utilização de adubos verdes na indução da supressão à doença e identificar os possíveis fatores responsáveis pela supressividade. O experimento foi conduzido em casa de vegetação, em solo franco arenoso, no qual não foram detectadas populações autóctones de F. oxysporum. Após a infestação do solo com F. oxysporum f.sp. tracheiphilum, foram comparados 11 tratamentos, considerando diferentes combinações de pousio, caupi (cv. BR-17 Gurguéia) e adubos verdes (crotalária juncea, crotalária spectabilis, feijão-de-porco, guandu, labe-labe e mucuna-preta), em quatro ciclos de cultivo. As avaliações da severidade da doença e das características microbianas e químicas dos solos foram realizadas ao final do 2° e do 4° ciclo de cultivo. Nas duas avaliações, a incorporação de crotalária juncea ao soloproporcionou os menores níveis de severidade (SVD) da murcha-de-fusário em caupi, enquanto os demais adubos verdes não foram eficientes na redução da SVD. Não houve correlação entre a densidade populacional de F. oxysporum no solo e a SVD nas duas avaliações. Na primeira avaliação (2° ciclo), a SVD apresentou correlação negativa significativa (r = -0,69) com a população de Bacillus sp., sendo esta bactéria identificada como um fator de supressividade. Não foram constatadas correlações significativas entre SVD e as características microbiológicas dos solos ao final do 4º ciclo de cultivo, indicando que outros mecanismos podem estar envolvidos na supressividade da doença. Apesar da redução da SVD pela adubação verde com crotalátia juncea tornam-se necessários mais estudos sobre os fatores responsáveis pela supressividade à murcha-de-fusário para a adoção efetiva da crotalária juncea em plantios comerciais, já que a supressão da doença na casa de vegetação ou pequenas parcelas não garante níveis similares de supressão em campos de produção sob diversas condições de solo e ambiente, bem como diversas opções de manejo.

Environmental factors affecting a topographic sequence of soils were examined on the University of British Columbia Endowment Lands. The soils and other landscape components were studied at four sites along a transect to provide information on those processes which are active in affecting site and soil development. Characterization of the water chemistry of precipitation, organic leachate, soil solution and groundwater; the magnitude of soil spatial variability and the influence of land use on the landscape were also evaluated. The landscape components considered to exert the greatest influence on soil and site development include topography, moisture regime, vegetation and parent material. The interrelationship between these components has resulted in the development of four podzol soils which differ in horizon differentiation and in the extent to which mobile constituents are redistributed in the pedon. Man, considered as an environmental factor, has indirectly influenced site and soil development through land use. The effects attributed to logging are reflected in the modification of the moisture regime along the lower portion of the transect. This appears to be the controlling factor in altering vegetation successional patterns and in affecting soil development. In these soils, soil development appears to be intensified, wiht the resultant increase in weathering and leaching processes in the surface mineral horizons and the initiation of the redistribution of mobile constituents within the pedon. Characterization of selected chemical components of precipitation (including crown wash), organic layer leachate, soil solution and groundwater was conducted to elucidate ion mobility and nutrient availability. The data presented suggest that: the weathering of soil minerals is the main source of ions to the soil-water system; the mineral weathering rates in the soils are fairly constant; the chemical concentrations in the groundwater are controlled to a great extent by the weathering of soil minerals; the input of ions from the atmosphere and organic leachates can be appreciable and may influence the exchange status in the surface mineral horizons; and the leaching of organic materials may be important in maintaining plant nutrient requirements in soils of inherent low fertility. Displacement techniques appear to be useful in providing data for the evaluation of water quality relationships between the atmosphere and the soil system and for assessing site-fertility. Spatial variability in the two soils was studied to elucidate soil chemical heterogeneity. Assessment of three sampling techniques in relation to sampling efficiency and intensity was made in light of the soil heterogeneity expressed by the soils. Spatial variability recorded for these soils, suggests that soil heterogeneity should be considered as an important soil characteristic as are the soils' inherent chemical and physical properties. The greatest extent of variation in soil chemical properties was found in the surface mineral layers where weathering and influences from environmental factor interactions are more pronounced. It is this portion of the soil that will regulate the sampling intensity required for soil field studies. The data presented suggest that the use of composite sampling schemes will allow for reasonable estimates of soil properties and reduce the probable disparites caused by non-representative samples. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

A large database now exists for tardigrades in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) consisting of 780 samples, 15,618 specimens, and 80 species including 14 new to science. We found 43 species of tardigrades in 150 soil/leaf litter samples. We calculated the Chao 1 species richness estimate with the species accumulation curve for the GSMNP and confirmed that our species list is virtually complete. Compared with soil data from mt. Fuji, Japan, estimated species richness in GSMNP was significantly higher. In our comparison of previous studies of soil/leaf litter tardigrades in other geographic areas, only the Kanagawa prefecture of Japan reported a higher number of species (47) than the GSMNP. Species richness estimators are valuable tools for comparing diversity in different habitats, even when sampling effort varies between studies.

A large database now exists for tardigrades in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) consisting of 780 samples, 15,618 specimens, and 80 species including 14 new to science. We found 43 species of tardigrades in 150 soil/leaf litter samples. We calculated the Chao 1 species richness estimate with the species accumulation curve for the GSMNP and confirmed that our species list is virtually complete. Compared with soil data from mt. Fuji, Japan, estimated species richness in GSMNP was significantly higher. In our comparison of previous studies of soil/leaf litter tardigrades in other geographic areas, only the Kanagawa prefecture of Japan reported a higher number of species (47) than the GSMNP. Species richness estimators are valuable tools for comparing diversity in different habitats, even when sampling effort varies between studies.

No description available.

Multiple mechanisms control bacterial community structure but two in particular, the "legacy" of past environmental conditions, and the "priming" of bacteria to respond to seasonal or reoccurring fluctuations in resources, have the potential to determine both bacterial communities, as well as, temporal shifts in active bacterial taxa. To begin to evaluate the legacy effects of resources on microbial communities, we added four limiting resources annually (i.e., water only; C-mannitol + water; N-NH4NO3 + water; and C, N + water) and measured shifts in bacterial community composition after seven years in a cold desert ecosystem in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Further, to investigate the ecological significance of priming, we conducted a series of stable isotope probing experiments (i.e., 18O-DNA SIP with 18O-labeled water, 13C-DNA SIP with 13C-labeled mannitol, 15N-DNA with 15N- NH4NO3, and a combined C and N SIP) and characterized the responding (i.e., isotopically labeled) and seed bank (i.e., unlabeled) bacterial communities. We performed each of the SIPs in soil microcosms corresponding to a single resource manipulation (e.g., 13C-labeled mannitol in C addition soils). We hypothesized that all long-term additions of nutrients and water will lead to a distinct bacterial community—a legacy effect due to the nutrient and water impoverished state of Antarctica soils. We also hypothesized that the stronger the legacy effects demonstrated by a specific community the more adapted or primed bacterial species will be to take advantage of the resource and respond. As hypothesized, resource additions created distinct bacterial legacy but to different degrees among the treatments. The extent of the resource legacy effects was greatest in the CN, intermediate in water and N, and lowest in C communities relative to the control communities, suggesting that C induced changes in communities were intensified by tandem N additions and that water alone created a more distinct legacy than water and C additions combined. Contrary to our hypothesis, the stronger the legacy effects, the less adapted or primed the community was to take advantage of resource additions. For example, the CN treatment that induced the greatest effect on bacterial communities had the lowest number of species (20.9%) in common between the responding and seed bank communities. This inverse relationship may be due to only two species (i.e., Arthrobacter, Actinobacteria and Massilia, Betaproteobacteria) really being primed to take advantage of CN and these species constituting over 75% of the seed bank community. Water, N, and C additions had similar levels of priming with 38.4%, 41.4%, and 36.3% of the responding species being present in the seed bank community, respectively. But of these three treatments, only the priming with water resulted in a unique responding community, suggesting that water, a universal bacterial resource, was enough to prime bacteria. Furthermore, water generates the most diverse responding community of all the resources with stemming from all of the fourteen dominant phyla. We did find patterns of ecological coherence among the responders, especially in the major responders (i.e., responders that increased in relative recovery by at least ten-fold). These responders were predominantly found in only three phyla (i.e., Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes, and Gammaproteobacteria) regardless of resource addition. Alternatively minor responders (i.e., responders that increased in relative recovery at least two-fold) were contained in fourteen different phyla with specific taxa stimulated by CN (i.e., Betaproteobacteria) and N and water (i.e., Deltaproteobacteria). Further, resource additions elicited responses from 37% of bacterial species with species specializing on a specific resource (e.g., Chloroflexi) or being a generalist (e.g., Planctomycetes and Gammaproteobacteria). Our results offer the first direct links between legacy and priming effects on bacterial community composition and demonstrate that these mechanisms are not always complimentary leading to the formation of similar communities but may both be essential to maintain the high levels of bacterial diversity. Further, all resources produced elicited responders that were either specialists of generalists demonstrating that even bacteria in the extreme environment of Antarctica respond to pulses of resources.