Microbial Diversity in Soils and Waters of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Three archaeal and 13 bacterial species were observed in fecal samples from four elk in the park, showing seasonal patterns. Over 13 years of sampling, researchers have recorded 5 phyla, 8 classes, 27 orders, 34 families, and 81 genera from soils and waters, with 178 bacterial species identified via cloning from three specific plots. The research is associated with the Department of the Interior and includes data from class collections since 2002.

Use Cases

• Analyze seasonal patterns in microbial communities based on the observed seasonality in elk digestive tract species.
• Compare diversity between soil and water samples based on the description of phylum dominance differing between these environments.
• Study nitrogen cycle functional ecology based on the planned examination of ammonia oxidation (amoA) gene diversity.
• Investigate novel microbial taxa based on the mention of many strains only distantly related to known species and new genera observed each year.

Strengths

• Includes data from a long-term study spanning 13 years of effort.
• Contains molecular (cloned 16S rDNA for 178 species) and culture-based identification results, allowing for methodological comparison.
• Covers multiple specific locations within the park (e.g., Oconaluftee, Purchase Knob, Cataloochee, Albright Grove).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description combines findings from multiple related but distinct sub-projects (e.g., elk fecal samples, soil plots, culture attempts), which may not be unified in the provided files.

Provenance

Source

Department of the Interior

Collection Method

Field collection of fecal, soil, and water samples for isolation, identification, and molecular analysis (e.g., cloning, T-RFLP).

Time Range

Sampling activities mentioned since 2002, with 13 years of effort recorded.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-04 01:12:54.411282; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, specifically Oconaluftee Visitor Center, Kephart Trail, Purchase Knob, Cataloochee, and Albright Grove areas.