| Method |
Abstract: "In most terrestrial environments, [investigators'] knowledge of the elemental composition and stoichiometry of microorganisms stems from indirect whole community analyses. In contrast, [they] have little direct knowledge of the elemental composition of specific microorganisms and the variation between and within Fungi and Bacteria. To address this issue, [they] isolated and identified the elemental content of 87 strains of Fungi and Bacteria isolated from grassland leaf litter. The isolated strains were affiliated with a broad range of diversity including Ascomycota and Basidiomycota for Fungi, and Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria for Bacteria." |
| Comments |
P.281 right column 2nd paragraph: "[Investigators] grew the cultures in a high carbon to nutrient media to reflect the availability of these elements in soil and leaf litter environments. Across all strains, the geometric mean C:P, N:P, and C:N molar ratios [±95% CI] were 88.1 [79.4,97.7], 14.7 [13.3,16.4], and 6.1 [5.5,6.8], respectively (Table 1). All three ratios were significantly
different from the soil microbial biomass ratios reported previously (Fig. 1, two-sample t-test, p < 0.05). However, there was also an overlap in the distribution of elemental ratios between [their] strains and field communities (Fig. 1). The geometric mean C:P ratio was
significantly lower than the Redfield C:P ratio (one-sample t-test, p < 0.001), but the C:N and N:P ratios were not significantly different from Redfield ratios. The fungal and bacterial strains also differed from one another (Fig. 2, Table 1). Both the C:P and C:N
geometric mean ratios were significantly higher for Fungi compared to Bacteria (two-sample t-test, p < 0.001). The N:P ratios were more similar for the two domains, but slightly higher for Bacteria (two-sample t-test, p = 0.046)." |