Microbial community dynamics in a Malaysian tropical peat swamp forest

This study investigated microbial community structure in pristine and burnt sites in North Selangor peat swamp forest, as well as putative functional genes possessed by cultivated bacteria in the carbon and nitrogen cycles, using next-generation sequencing. Microbial diversity was found to be significantly affected by depth, but not tree species. Bacterial isolates were suggested to be involved in the degradation of cellulose, starch, sugars, organic acids, aromatic compounds and methane. They also potentially performed dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium, which conserves nitrogen in the ecosystem, which could partially explain how the ecosystem sustains such high biodiversity.