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Date of Award
Spring 2009
Document Type
Restricted Thesis: Campus only access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Dr. Amy Treonis
Abstract
Soil microbial communities contain numerous organisms including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, viruses, nematodes, and archaea (Fierer et al., 2007). These microbes make up a large percentage of the living biomass on Earth with a hectare of soil containing anywhere from 103 to 104kg of microbial biomass (Fierer et al., 2007). Despite comprising a large amount of life on earth, the ecology of these microbial populations and communities has not been fully explored (Raskin et al., 1994, Fierer and Jackson, 2006, Fierer et al., 2007). Previous research has focused primarily on bacteria, (Fierer et al., 2007), yet archaea are widely-distributed and functionally diverse. A better understanding of archaeal diversity and ecology in soils may provide important information for understanding soil food webs (Madigan et al., 2009).
Recommended Citation
Narla, Archana Durga, "Determining archaeal species diversity in death valley soils" (2009). Honors Theses. 160.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/160