Paul B. L. George

Université Laval

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Davey L. Jones

Bangor University

David A. Robinson

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Bridget A. Emmett

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Simon Creer

Bangor University

Fiona M. Seaton

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Inma Lebron

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Simon M. Smart

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Jamie Alison

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Robert I. Griffiths

Bangor University

Caroline Duchaine

Université Laval

Cooperative Institutions

Université Laval

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec

Bangor University

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Natural Environment Research Council

Lung Institute

Université de Montréal

Lancaster University

Universidade de São Paulo

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A comparison of community composition analyses for the assessment of responses to wood-ash soil amendment by free-living nematodes

Paul B. L. George

ii! Acknowledgments iv! List of Tables vii! List of Figures viii! List of Maps ix! List of Abbreviations x! 1! Introduction 1! 1.1! Effects of forestry practices on soil systems 1! 1.2! Nematode functional traits and the Maturity Index 4! 1.3! Body size as a response-effect functional trait 7! 1.4! Molecular markers of community composition 9! 1.5! Objectives 10! 1.6! Hypotheses & Predictions 10! 2! Methods 13! 2.1! Site description and experimental design 13! 2.2! Sampling regime 14! 2.3! Morphological analyses 15! 2.4! Trait-based analyses 16! 2.4.1! Maturity Index 16! 2.4.2! Body Size Spectra 17! 2.5! Molecular analyses 18! 2.6! Statistical analyses 19! 3! Results 23! 3.1! Wood ash and the nematode community: morphological assessment 23! vi 3.2! Wood ash and the nematode community: trait-based measures 24! 3.2.1! Maturity Indices 24! 3.2.2! Body Size Spectra 25! 3.3! Wood ash and the nematode community: molecular assessment using T-RFLP . 26! 4! Discussion 35! 4.1! Response of the nematode community to clear-cutting 35! 4.1.1! Morphological measures of nematode communities 35! 4.1.2! Trait-based measures of nematode communities 37! 4.1.3! Molecular measures of nematode communities 38! 4.2! Response of the nematode community to wood ash amendment 39! 4.3! Evaluation of assessment methods by a priori criteria 41! 4.3.1! Evaluation of molecular T-RFLP assessment 41! 4.3.2! Evaluation of morphological community assessment 42! 4.3.3! Evaluation of trait-based community assessment 42! 4.4! Summary of results & recommendations 45! References 48! Curriculum Vitae 58!

Wood ash

Amendment

Trait

Community

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Divergent national-scale trends of microbial and animal biodiversity revealed across diverse temperate soil ecosystems

Nature Communications (2019)

Paul B. L. George Delphine Lallias Simon Creer Fiona M. Seaton John Kenny

Abstract Soil biota accounts for ~25% of global biodiversity and is vital to nutrient cycling and primary production. There is growing momentum to study total belowground biodiversity across large ecological scales to understand how habitat and soil properties shape belowground communities. Microbial and animal components of belowground communities follow divergent responses to soil properties and land use intensification; however, it is unclear whether this extends across heterogeneous ecosystems. Here, a national-scale metabarcoding analysis of 436 locations across 7 different temperate ecosystems shows that belowground animal and microbial (bacteria, archaea, fungi, and protists) richness follow divergent trends, whereas β-diversity does not. Animal richness is governed by intensive land use and unaffected by soil properties, while microbial richness was driven by environmental properties across land uses. Our findings demonstrate that established divergent patterns of belowground microbial and animal diversity are consistent across heterogeneous land uses and are detectable using a standardised metabarcoding approach.

Biota

Terrestrial ecosystem

10.1038/s41467-019-09031-1

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Citations (137)

Responses of soil biological and functional diversity to anthropogenic change from plot- to national-scales

Paul B. L. George

Plot (graphics)

Functional Diversity

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Evaluation of mesofauna communities as soil quality indicators in a national-level monitoring programme

Soil Biology and Biochemistry (2017)

Paul B. L. George Aidan M. Keith Simon Creer Gaynor Barrett Inma Lebron

Soil mesofauna

Mesostigmata

Animal ecology

10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.09.022

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Citations (98)

Author response for "A diversity of diversities: Do complex environmental effects underpin associations between below‐ and above‐ground taxa?"

Fiona M. Seaton Paul B. L. George Jamie Alison Davey L. Jones Simon Creer

10.1111/1365-2745.14324/v2/response1

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Manipulation of the soil microbiome regulates the colonization of plants by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Mycorrhiza (2021)

Bruna Arruda Paul B. L. George Agnès Robin Denise de Lourdes Colombo Mescolotti Wilfrand Ferney Bejarano Herrera

Crotalaria

Arbuscular mycorrhiza

Brachiaria

Acaulospora

Glomeromycota

10.1007/s00572-021-01044-3

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Citations (12)

Microbial antibiotic resistance genes across an anthropogenic gradient in a Canadian High Arctic watershed

Deleted Journal (2024)

Juliette Provencher Paul B. L. George Mary Thaler Warwick F. Vincent Caroline Duchaine

Abstract Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest challenges to public health. While the discovery of antibiotics has decreased pathogen-caused mortality, the overuse of these drugs has resulted in the increased transfer and evolution of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in bacteria. ARGs naturally occur in wild bacterial communities, but are also found in increased concentrations in environments contaminated by wastewater effluent. Although such ARGs are relatively well described in temperate environments, little is known about the distribution and dissemination of these genes in the Arctic. We characterized the ARGs in microbial communities from aerosols, lakes and microbial mats around a remote Arctic hamlet using metagenomic approaches. Specific objectives were to (i) compare ARGs across habitats, (ii) to characterize ARG populations along a continuum of anthropogenically influenced environments, and (iii) to identify ARGs of viral origin. We identified ARGs in all habitats throughout the watershed, and found that microbial mats in the most impacted area had the highest diversity of ARGs relative to uncontaminated sites, which may be a remnant signal of wastewater effluent inputs in the area during the 20th century. Although we identified ARGs predominantly in bacterial genomes, our data suggests that mimiviruses may also harbor ARGs.

10.1093/sumbio/qvae021

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Decoupled richness of generalist anaerobes and sulphate‐reducing bacteria is driven by pH across land uses in temperate soils

European Journal of Soil Science (2020)

Paul B. L. George Kátia Pereira Coelho Simon Creer Inma Lebron David A. Robinson

Abstract Sulphate‐reducing bacteria (SRB) represent a key biological component of the global sulphur (S) cycle and are common in soils, where they reduce SO 4 2− to H 2 S during the anaerobic degradation of soil organic matter. The factors that regulate their distribution in soil, however, remain poorly understood. We sought to determine the ecological patterns of SRB richness within a nationwide 16S metabarcoding dataset. Across 436 sites belonging to seven contrasting temperate land uses (e.g., arable, grasslands, woodlands, heathland and bog), SRB richness was relatively low across land uses but greatest in grasslands and lowest in woodlands and peat‐rich soils. There was a shift in dominant SRB taxa from Desulfosporosinus and Desulfobulbus in arable and grassland land uses to Desulfobacca in heathland and bog sites. In contrast, richness of other generalist anaerobic bacterial taxa found in our dataset (e.g., Clostridium , Geobacter and Pelobacter ) followed a known trend of declining richness linked to land‐use productivity. Overall, the richness of SRBs and anaerobes had strong positive correlations with pH and sulphate concentration and strong negative relationships with elevation, soil organic matter, total carbon and carbon‐to‐nitrogen ratio. It is likely that these results reflect the driving influence of pH and competition for optimal electron acceptors with generalist anaerobic bacteria on SRB richness. Highlights Sulphate‐reducing bacteria (SRB) are key but rare soil biota that may compete with other anaerobes As UK sulphur deposition rates fall, local populations of SRB may also decline in soils Sulphate concentrations were higher in arable and wooded sites, not at higher elevation as expected SRB richness was lower than generalist anaerobes, with peaks in grasslands and a drop in lowland woods.

Arable land

10.1111/ejss.13040

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Citations (9)

Integrated ecological monitoring in Wales: the Glastir Monitoring and Evaluation Programme field survey

Earth system science data (2021)

Claire M. Wood Jamie Alison Marc S. Botham Annette Burden François Edwards

Abstract. The Glastir Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (GMEP) ran from 2013 until 2016 and was probably the most comprehensive programme of ecological study ever undertaken at a national scale in Wales. The programme aimed to (1) set up an evaluation of the environmental effects of the Glastir agri-environment scheme and (2) quantify environmental status and trends across the wider countryside of Wales. The focus was on outcomes for climate change mitigation, biodiversity, soil and water quality, woodland expansion, and cultural landscapes. As such, GMEP included a large field-survey component, collecting data on a range of elements including vegetation, land cover and use, soils, freshwaters, birds, and insect pollinators from up to three-hundred 1 km survey squares throughout Wales. The field survey capitalised upon the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) Countryside Survey of Great Britain, which has provided an extensive set of repeated, standardised ecological measurements since 1978. The design of both GMEP and the UKCEH Countryside Survey involved stratified-random sampling of squares from a 1 km grid, ensuring proportional representation from land classes with distinct climate, geology and physical geography. Data were collected from different land cover types and landscape features by trained professional surveyors, following standardised and published protocols. Thus, GMEP was designed so that surveys could be repeated at regular intervals to monitor the Welsh environment, including the impacts of agri-environment interventions. One such repeat survey is scheduled for 2021 under the Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring & Modelling Programme (ERAMMP). Data from GMEP have been used to address many applied policy questions, but there is major potential for further analyses. The precise locations of data collection are not publicly available, largely for reasons of landowner confidentiality. However, the wide variety of available datasets can be (1) analysed at coarse spatial resolutions and (2) linked to each other based on square-level and plot-level identifiers, allowing exploration of relationships, trade-offs and synergies. This paper describes the key sets of raw data arising from the field survey at co-located sites (2013 to 2016). Data from each of these survey elements are available with the following digital object identifiers (DOIs): Landscape features (Maskell et al., 2020a–c), https://doi.org/10.5285/82c63533-529e-47b9-8e78-51b27028cc7f, https://doi.org/10.5285/9f8d9cc6-b552-4c8b-af09-e92743cdd3de, https://doi.org/10.5285/f481c6bf-5774-4df8-8776-c4d7bf059d40; Vegetation plots (Smart et al., 2020), https://doi.org/10.5285/71d3619c-4439-4c9e-84dc-3ca873d7f5cc; Topsoil physico-chemical properties (Robinson et al., 2019), https://doi.org/10.5285/0fa51dc6-1537-4ad6-9d06-e476c137ed09; Topsoil meso-fauna (Keith et al., 2019), https://doi.org/10.5285/1c5cf317-2f03-4fef-b060-9eccbb4d9c21; Topsoil particle size distribution (Lebron et al., 2020), https://doi.org/10.5285/d6c3cc3c-a7b7-48b2-9e61-d07454639656; Headwater stream quality metrics (Scarlett et al., 2020a), https://doi.org/10.5285/e305fa80-3d38-4576-beef-f6546fad5d45; Pond quality metrics (Scarlett et al., 2020b), https://doi.org/10.5285/687b38d3-2278-41a0-9317-2c7595d6b882; Insect pollinator and flower data (Botham et al., 2020), https://doi.org/10.5285/3c8f4e46-bf6c-4ea1-9340-571fede26ee8; and Bird counts (Siriwardena et al., 2020), https://doi.org/10.5285/31da0a94-62be-47b3-b76e-4bdef3037360.

Environmental Monitoring

Land Cover

Survey data collection

10.5194/essd-13-4155-2021

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Citations (5)

Soil Microbial Adaptation to Carbon Deprivation: Shifts in Lignocellulolytic Gene Profiles Following Long-Term Plant Exclusion

David Benjamin Fidler Paul B. L. George L. O. Brun Robert I. Griffiths Davey L. Jones

Soil carbon

Carbon fibers

10.2139/ssrn.5135282

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