Author(s)

M. Anand, K. M. Mu, S. Levin, A. Okonski & D. McCreath

Abstract

Modelling recovery rules of soil microbial assemblages using matrix methods M. Anand, K. M. Ma, S. Levin, A. Okonski & D. McCreath Biology Department and Elliot Lake Research Field Station, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Abstract We model the dynamics of microbial assemblages in response to various rehabilitation treatments to polluted soils in the Sudbury, Canada area. We compare the efficacy of the stationary Markov model in capturing observed dynamics and measuring the success of rehabilitation techniques. We apply two different approaches to the estimation of transition probabilities for the Markov model. The first method models competition between taxa for a limiting resource. The second method is less mechanistic, however, and is closely linked to the matrix method of Principal Components Analysis that is widely used to detect ecological gradients. The first method provides a better fit to the dynamics of microbial assemblages and to assessment of rehabilitation success,

Keywords