Nematode biodiversity
in soils of the shortgrass steppe
Acrobeles, common in the shortgrass steppe
Project Summary
An extensive survey of terrestrial nematodes will be conducted
at two sites on the shortgrass steppe.The goal of this research
is to recognize nematode biodiversity on the shortgrass steppe
and to communicate the content of that biodiversity to the
scientific community.
Shortgrass steppe was selected for study because it is likely
to be affected by global climate change.The vast number of
soil nematode taxa are as yet unknown to science, with only
an estimated 3-5% having been described. Despite their importance
in soil ecosystems, there is limited taxonomic data available
on nematodes on the shortgrass steppe, particularly with respect
to freeliving nematodes. A taxonomic baseline will be established,
from which the scientific community may further investigate
the pervasive effects of global change on soil ecosystems,
the systematics and ecological roles of nematodes, and better
understand soil nematode communities and the role played by
nematodes in ecosystem function.
Nematodes will be sampled at two Long Term Ecological Research
(LTER) sites, representing the shortgrass steppe (SGS LTER
site) and the transition zone of shortgrass steppe to hot
desert (Sevilleta LTER site). Despite differences in annual
rainfall, these sites contain similar plant communities. Soil
sampling will be stratified on transects through habitats
on large-scale environmental gradients at each site. Georeference
coordinates, soil carbon and nitrogen content, and dominant
associated vegetation will be determined.
Nematodes will be extracted, preserved, and mounted using
standard techniques. A graduate student will be trained. Voucher
specimens and mass collections will be deposited in a nematode
collection. Images of specimens will be digitized and made
available for electronic distribution over the Internet. A
sample if these images is available for viewing on our Slide
and Image Archive page.
Results of the survey will be made available over the World
Wide Web (WWW) via Internet browsers such as Netscape and
Gopher. Using the Biota software package (originally developed
for managing arthropod collections from La Selva, Costa Rica),
curatorial, nomenclatural, image, morphometric, metadata,
and bibliographic data will be compiled for each specimen.
The database will reside on the WWW server at the LTER network
headquarters or at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.
Internet users will be able to access the database via a graphical
user interface written in the hypertext markup language, through
which they may conduct queries and sort data by indicators
such as taxonomic classification, soil conditions or sites,
and view and download taxonomic data based on those queries.
This research will be the first comprehensive survey of soil
nematodes on the shortgrass steppe, bridging the gap between
systematics and ecology of soil invertebrate communities in
this biome. |
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