Sterilization Experiment at steril

This experiment established in the 2006-2007 austral summer in Fryxell Basin aims to determine the relationship between soil animal abundance/diversity and soil biogeochemistry. Soils were collected from the field and sterilized (autoclaved) to kill all organisms. The sterilized soil was then placed back in the field to allow colinization by soil biota. Soils will be collected over the next ~3 years and soil animal community structure and soil properties will be measured.