Major
Environmental Science
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Soil microbial populations are responsible for key wetland processes such as nutrient cycling, but invasive hybrid cattail Typha x glauca may impact the microbial community in wetland sediments by changing the plant community and organic substrates. I hypothesize that microbial diversity decreases along a gradient of time since invasion by Typha. To determine microbial diversity, I classified taxonomic differences in bacteria by sequencing 16S sRNA gene amplicons from wetland sediment samples. My results will inform wetland restoration by relating soil microbial diversity to plant diversity and Typha age as a potential indicator for the impact of invasive macrophytes.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Shane Lishawa, research associate, School of Environmental Sustainability; Drew Monks, research associate, School of Environmental Sustainability; Dr. John Kelly, professor, Department of Biology
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
How does time since invasion by hybrid cattail affect wetland soil microbial communities?
Soil microbial populations are responsible for key wetland processes such as nutrient cycling, but invasive hybrid cattail Typha x glauca may impact the microbial community in wetland sediments by changing the plant community and organic substrates. I hypothesize that microbial diversity decreases along a gradient of time since invasion by Typha. To determine microbial diversity, I classified taxonomic differences in bacteria by sequencing 16S sRNA gene amplicons from wetland sediment samples. My results will inform wetland restoration by relating soil microbial diversity to plant diversity and Typha age as a potential indicator for the impact of invasive macrophytes.