Molecular characterisation of cercozoan and oomycete diversity in forest soils and tree canopies. CanopyProtists

Tree canopies provide habitats for diverse and until now, still poorly characterised communities of microbial eukaryotes. One of the most general patterns in community ecology is the increase in species richness with increasing habitat diversity. Thus, environmental heterogeneity of tree canopies should be an important factor governing community structure and diversity in this subsystem of forest ecosystems. Nevertheless, it is unknown if similar patterns are reflected at the microbial scale within unicellular eukaryotes (protists). In this study, high-throughput sequencing of two prominent protist taxa, the Cercozoa and Oomycota, was performed. For a comprehensive assessment of their diversity across all ecological compartments from forest soils to the canopy region, newly designed group specific primers were used.