Assessment of four soil nematode communities in Hawaii by different methods

Date

2008

Contributor

Advisor

Department

Instructor

Depositor

Speaker

Researcher

Consultant

Interviewer

Narrator

Transcriber

Annotator

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Volume

Number/Issue

Starting Page

Ending Page

Alternative Title

Abstract

Nematode communities are potentially excellent indicators of soil health. Assessing these nematodes communities using molecular and morphological techniques may seem straight forward. However, many challenges exist in implementing molecular techniques. First, molecular techniques employed to study nematode communities generally involve DNA extraction, PCR, cloning and molecular sequencing. Each of these steps can introduce bias into the analysis of a nematode community. Using morphology to identify and assess nematode soil health is cumbersome as well. Systematic knowledge of the nematode fauna is essential in order to assign nematodes to their appropriate classification. In new environments permanent slides and collaboration with laboratories that extensively work on nematode taxonomy for adequate identification of nematodes is essential. As a result, attempting to assess the health of soil should require multiple nematode faunal analyses over time which includes I) comparison of two methods, 2) Gap analyses and 3) extraction methods. It is believed that these experiments have provided pertinent information to help in the quest of measuring and monitoring soil health. However, there is not adequate information to confidently determine if the Manoa Falls Trail sites were "healthier" in comparison to the Whitmore site.

Description

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.
Nematode communities are potentially excellent indicators of soil health. Assessing these nematodes communities using molecular and morphological techniques may seem straight forward. However, many challenges exist in implementing molecular techniques. First, molecular techniques employed to study nematode communities generally involve DNA extraction, PCR, cloning and molecular sequencing. Each of these steps can introduce bias into the analysis of a nematode community. Using morphology to identify and assess nematode soil health is cumbersome as well. Systematic knowledge of the nematode fauna is essential in order to assign nematodes to their appropriate classification. In new environments permanent slides and collaboration with laboratories that extensively work on nematode taxonomy for adequate identification of nematodes is essential. As a result, attempting to assess the health of soil should require multiple nematode faunal analyses over time which includes (1) comparison of two methods, (2) Gap analyses and (3) extraction methods. It is believed that these experiments have provided pertinent information to help in the quest of measuring and monitoring soil health. However, there is not adequate information to confidently determine if the Manoa Falls Trail sites were "healthier" in comparison to the Whitmore site.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-152).
Also available by subscription via World Wide Web
153 leaves, bound 29 cm

Keywords

Citation

Extent

Format

Geographic Location

Time Period

Related To

Theses for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Tropical Plant Pathology; no. 5069

Related To (URI)

Table of Contents

Rights

All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.

Rights Holder

Local Contexts

Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.