Microbial Composition of Coniferous and Deciduous Forest Ecosystems of North West Himalayas

摘要

Microorganisms play a vital role in the availability of nutrients in soils by their involvement at different stages of organic matter decomposition. They are also important in determining the pedogenesis of soils. Although a lot of information is available on the mi-crobial coenosis and biological processes of various forest ecosystems (Marshall 2000; Chapman et al. 2003), yet very little is known about such aspects in various ecosystems of the North West Himalayas. Composite surface (0-15 cm) and subsurface (15-30 cm) soil samples were collected during spring season (April 2001) from eight different locations, each representing 2 or 3 sites depending on the availability of coniferous and deciduous forest ecosystems of Himachal Pradesh lying in theNorth West Himalayas. The physico-chemical properties of the soils were determined by following standard procedures (Jackson 1973).