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Use and misuse of PLFA measurements in soils

Frostegard, Asa ; Tunlid, Anders LU and Bååth, Erland LU (2011) In Soil Biology & Biochemistry 43(8). p.1621-1625
Abstract
The determination of the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) pattern of soil organisms has become one of the most commonly used methods to study microbial community structure. Here we recapitulate the background of our work applying the PLFA method to soil in the early 1990s. We also stress that although the PLFA method was, and still is, a rapid and sensitive method to detect changes in the microbial community in soil, as with all popular methods it can be misused. We discuss problems in PLFA interpretation, the extent of turn-over of PLFAs in soil, and the flawed use of diversity indices to evaluate PLFA patterns. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Soil, Community structure, PLFA, NLFA, Heavy metals, pH
in
Soil Biology & Biochemistry
volume
43
issue
8
pages
1621 - 1625
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000292995300002
  • scopus:79955948927
ISSN
0038-0717
DOI
10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.11.021
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
60c2616f-7a4c-4de7-bccd-10ba1179078e (old id 2072560)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:51:30
date last changed
2022-04-21 23:43:16
@article{60c2616f-7a4c-4de7-bccd-10ba1179078e,
  abstract     = {{The determination of the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) pattern of soil organisms has become one of the most commonly used methods to study microbial community structure. Here we recapitulate the background of our work applying the PLFA method to soil in the early 1990s. We also stress that although the PLFA method was, and still is, a rapid and sensitive method to detect changes in the microbial community in soil, as with all popular methods it can be misused. We discuss problems in PLFA interpretation, the extent of turn-over of PLFAs in soil, and the flawed use of diversity indices to evaluate PLFA patterns. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Frostegard, Asa and Tunlid, Anders and Bååth, Erland}},
  issn         = {{0038-0717}},
  keywords     = {{Soil; Community structure; PLFA; NLFA; Heavy metals; pH}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{1621--1625}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Soil Biology & Biochemistry}},
  title        = {{Use and misuse of PLFA measurements in soils}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.11.021}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.11.021}},
  volume       = {{43}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}