Protocols

Microscopic assessment of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization and other fungal colonization of plant roots using crosshair intercept method and grid line-intercept method for soil fungi.

Surface sterilization of plant tissues followed by DNA extraction and high-throughput sequencing of the ITS region to characterize fungal endophyte communities. Community composition and diversity met...

Collection of soil inocula from resident (high elevation) and novel (low elevation) sites across elevation gradients in mountain ecosystems, with subsequent sterilization treatments to isolate microbi...

Factorial greenhouse experiment testing effects of soil inoculum source and sterilization on alpine grass growth, traits, and fungal colonization. Plants grown in standardized sand-inoculum mixtures w...

Standard chloroform fumigation direct extraction technique for measuring soil microbial biomass, combined with soil chemistry analysis and enzyme activity assays.

Random plot establishment along elevational gradients followed by soil coring and root extraction to quantify coarse and fine root biomass allocation patterns. Ground cover composition is estimated to...

Field experiment testing seed germination of different genotypes/treatments in natural microhabitats of related species to assess niche requirements and differentiation.

Comprehensive search of Web of Science databases for manipulative experiments on terrestrial carbon cycling responses to global change drivers, followed by systematic screening, data extraction, and q...

Extraction of iron and manganese from sediments using 0.5 N HCl with hydroxylamine hydrochloride in anaerobic conditions, followed by ICP-AES analysis. This method targets metals associated with reduc...

Measurement of six different soil extracellular enzyme activities using microplate spectrophotometry to understand microbial activity and nutrient cycling processes in response to plant removal treatm...

Extraction of plant metabolites using methanol/acetonitrile/water solvent followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Characterizes plant metabolomic profiles for correlation with fu...

Comparative simulation study using five different soil organic carbon models (DAYCENT, CORPSE, MIMICS, MEND, RESOM) to project responses to warming and litter addition manipulations. Models were run u...

Systematic survey of pocket gopher soil disturbances (eskers, mounds) along standardized transects using rolatape measuring wheels with perpendicular PVC pipe to standardize observation width. Each di...