Further challenging “everything is everywhere”, Fierer and Jackson proposed that soil microbial communities should exhibit predictable biogeographical patterns on a continental scale, in a manner similar to that of plants and animals. Collecting 98 soil samples across North and South America, they utilised a 16S rRNA fingerprinting approach to investigate diversity and community structure across these sites. This lead to the discovery that, of all soil parameters measured, pH most reliably predicted both bacterial community diversity and richness. Distinct bacterial communities were found to be associated with pHs across the range discovered; clusters of similar communities were found at separate sites with arid soils, acidic soils, temperate rainforests, and so on. These results were surprising, as they reinforced Becking’s notion of a global bacterial population selected for by environment, demonstrated by the environmental factor of pH acting as a clear control on soil bacterial community composition, unlike geothermal pools in which geographical distance was instead a controlling factor. It could also be concluded therefore that, at least in America, soil microbial biogeography does not follow geographical trends of larger organisms (Fierer & Jackson,
Further challenging “everything is everywhere”, Fierer and Jackson proposed that soil microbial communities should exhibit predictable biogeographical patterns on a continental scale, in a manner similar to that of plants and animals. Collecting 98 soil samples across North and South America, they utilised a 16S rRNA fingerprinting approach to investigate diversity and community structure across these sites. This lead to the discovery that, of all soil parameters measured, pH most reliably predicted both bacterial community diversity and richness. Distinct bacterial communities were found to be associated with pHs across the range discovered; clusters of similar communities were found at separate sites with arid soils, acidic soils, temperate rainforests, and so on. These results were surprising, as they reinforced Becking’s notion of a global bacterial population selected for by environment, demonstrated by the environmental factor of pH acting as a clear control on soil bacterial community composition, unlike geothermal pools in which geographical distance was instead a controlling factor. It could also be concluded therefore that, at least in America, soil microbial biogeography does not follow geographical trends of larger organisms (Fierer & Jackson,