Community-level physiological profiling (CLPP) is a method for studying the catabolic potential of microbial communities. This study used CLPP to compare the soil microbial communities from different habitat types at the Rome Sand Plains, a pine barren in Central New York. We hypothesized there would be differences associated with the successional status of sample plots.

Results/Conclusions

Multivariate analysis of the results from CLPP showed that the microbial communities in areas with wild blue lupine (Lupinus perennis) had a catabolic potential that differed from the microbial communities of other habitat types sampled: open sand, cryptogam crust, and forest. These differences were apparent when either raw data or data normalized to account for differences in inoculum density were analyzed. The normalized data indicate that soil pH and total organic content may influence the catabolic function of these microbial communities. Information regarding the microbial community function at the Rome Sand Plains could be important to habitat restoration, as succession is reducing open areas such as the sand, cryptogam crust, and lupine habitats. Restoration efforts currently focus on expanding the lupine population, on which the New York State-threatened frosted elfin butterfly (Callophyrus irus) depends.