Soil Microbial Diversity and Function
Liz Baggs, Graeme Nicol, Jim Prosser
Research into Soil Microbial Diversity and Function applies molecular and traditional techniques in laboratory, microcosm, and field systems to determine the factors controlling microbial diversity, community structure and soil health. Highlights include the detailed characterisation of the crucial link between rhizosphere biodiversity, including the previously unknown crenarchaea, with soil nitrification and denitrification using new techniques such as stable isotope probing and isotope ratio mass spectrometry.
Studying microbial diversity at the retreating Rotmoosferner glacier, Austria (top) using stable isotope probing of crenarchaea (above).
Biosensor-marked pseudomonads on barley root tip (A) and surface (B).
Plant/Fungal Interactions
Ian Alexander, Dave Johnson, Steve Woodward
Research into Plant/Fungal Interactions addresses the role of mycorrhizal fungi as drivers of ecosystem processes in upland grasslands, heathland, and coniferous forests. Novel methods of in situ measurements of C and P exchange have provided insight into the complexity of mycelial-plant networks and role of soil invertebrates in disrupting these networks. There is also active research in forest pathology operating within a wide European collaboration. Work focuses on mechanisms of host resistance to root diseases and the ecology of tree pathogens and has, for example, demonstrated genetic variability in spruce trees for Heterobasidion and developed a phenotypic marker for Dutch elm resistance.
Functional diversity of plant-mycorrhizal interactions characterised by stable isotope probing
Causative agent of oak mildew (Microsphaeria alphitoides) under the electron microscope (left) and Magnaporthe grisea (blast) on rice leaves (right).
Soil Invertebrate Ecology
Research on Soil Invertebrate Ecology focuses on the role of nematodes as vectors of bacteria in soil and as biological control agents. The discovery that parasitic nematodes find their hosts through physical rather than chemical attraction explains how they capture e.g. cryptic sedentary forest pests.
Parasitic nematode nictating (standing on its tail) (left). Healthy and nematode infected field slugs (right).
Human Zoonotic Gastrointestinal Infections
Research in Human Zoonotic Gastrointestinal Infections has improved understanding of the reservoirs of the causal organisms (such as E. coli O157), their survival, dispersal and ecology in the agricultural environment, and the transmission and epidemiology of disease. Molecular methods for pathogen detection in soil and faeces have been developed allowing epidemiology and transmission in the environment to be monitored and modelled.
Visualising bacteria in the soil (left) facilitating the pathways to transmission of E. coli O157 from farm animals (right).