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Nematode Diversity in a Tropical Rainforest

Hypothesis: That most of the nematode diversity in the tropical rainforest is found in arboreal habitats and the associated invertebrates, as compared with the concentration of biodiversity found in temperate grassland soils. (NSF Biodiversty Surveys and Inventories #0450537)

Testing: Samples of soil, forest floor litter and understory habitats (insects and epiphytes) were collected from the La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. All nematode taxa were identified morphologically, with some unusual or unique phenotypes characterized by molecular metrics. Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTU's) determined by amplification of barcode region and sequence assessment.

Research methods- Sampling protocols

Specimen photographs

SEM photographs of selected specimens

The research team

Results of the Nematode Survey:

To date we have examined 360 specimens from the four plots at La Selva. Each specimen was amplified and sequenced using an 18S “barcode” that represents approximately 640 bp from the 3' region of the gene. The results to date are as follows:

360 nematodes have been processed, 120 from each habitat: soil, litter and understory
Of the 360 sequences, 167 unique sequences were recovered
Each habitat has a large proportion of unique sequences: 55 taxa were only recovered from the soil, 52 taxa were only recovered from the litter, and 38 taxa were only observed from the understory

For more specific results, see
Nematode Survey