16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of forest and grassland soil DNA from Papua New Guinea

The dynamics of tropical forests, grasslands and their intergrades are extremely important globally for biodiversity and biogeochemical processes. The extent and nature of these vegetation types is changing rapidly due to human activities and influence. While the consequences of these changes for above-ground ecology and ecosystem services are widely appreciated, much less is known about the consequences for below-ground soil biodiversity and functions. In this work we set out to compare soil microbial community structures between forest and grassland in a humid tropical environment in Papua New Guinea.