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Growth of saprotrophic fungi and bacteria in soil.

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Author

Summary, in English

Bacterial and fungal growth rate measurements are sensitive variables to detect changes in environmental conditions. However, while methods to assess the species composition and biomass of fungi and bacteria has made much progress, information about growth rates remains surprisingly rudimentary. We review the recent history of approaches to assess bacterial and fungal growth rates, leading up to current methods, especially focusing on leucine/thymidine incorporation to estimate bacterial growth and acetate incorporation into ergosterol to estimate fungal growth. We present underlying assumptions for these methods, compare estimates of turnover times for fungi and bacteria based on them, and discuss issues, including e.g. elusive conversion factors. We review what the application of fungal and bacterial growth rate methods has revealed regarding the influence of the environmental factors of temperature, moisture (including drying/rewetting), pH, as well as the influence of substrate additions, presence of plants and toxins. We highlight experiments exploring competitive and facilitative interaction between bacteria and fungi enabled using growth rate methods. Finally, we predict that growth methods will be an important complement to molecular approaches to elucidate fungal and bacterial ecology, and we identify methodological concerns and how they should be addressed.

Publishing year

2011

Language

English

Pages

17-30

Publication/Series

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Volume

78

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Keywords

  • fungal growth
  • bacterial growth
  • leucine/thymidine incorporation
  • acetate in ergosterol incorporation
  • turnover time
  • biomass production.

Status

Published

Project

  • Interaction between fungi and bacteria in soil
  • Responses of soil microbes to drought and rewetting
  • Effect of environmental factors on fungal and bacterial growth in soil
  • Microbial carbon-use efficiency

Research group

  • Microbial Ecology

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1574-6941