Soil yeast abundance and diversity assessment in a hot climatic region, semi-arid ecosystem

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Yeasts are an important portion of microbial communities of soil due to their bioactivity for ecosystem safety. Soil yeast abundance and diversity are likely to be affected under harsh environmental and climatic conditions. In Iraq, human activity and climatic changes especially high temperature which may alter microbial communities in soil. Very little is known about yeast abundance and diversity in a hot climatic region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By PCR technique, soil yeast abundance and diversity were investigated under extreme environmental and climatic conditions, as well as the effects of soil properties and vegetation cover in semi-arid lands. RESULTS: In all, 126 yeast strains were isolated and identified as belonging to 13 genera and 26 known species. The maximum quantity of yeast was 0.8 × 10(2) CFU g(−1) of soil, with significantly varied in abundance and diversity depending on soil properties and presence of vegetation. CONCLUSION: The results show that soil yeast abundance in these regions was significantly decreased. However, semi-arid lands are still rich in yeast diversity, and many species have adapted to survive in such conditions.