Abstract
We have investigated the relationship between soil formation and development of bacterial communities in coastal sand dunes. Diversity of bacterial strains isolated from immature soils of vegetation series, i.e. bare land (Pd. 1, pd. 2 B) -grassland (Pd. 2)-woodland (Pd. 3 , pd. 4) along the sea shore was determined by examining the pattern of carbon source utilization. Patterns of utilization of sixty one different carbon sources were assigned a numerical value by using a binary number, 1 or 0 refering to the utilization or non-utilization. The isolates composing a community were clustered (UPGMA) according to the numerical characteristics. Diversity index was calculated by total aggregate distance within multidimensional space and average distance separating each component. The bacterial communities in the sandy soil of the grassland (Pd. 2) were much more diverse than those of the sand without vegetation (Pd. 1, pd. 2 B). Diversity of bacterial communities in the grassland (Pd. 2) was similar to that in an A horizon of woodland soil (Pd. 3, pd. 4). These results indicated that the bacterial communities become diversified in the area where vegetation appeares in the sand.
