Contemporary issues, current best practice and ways forward in soil protist ecology

Area of Science:

• Soil ecology
• Microbial ecology
• Protistology

Background:

• Soil protists are crucial ecosystem players, but research is hampered by inconsistent terminology and data misinterpretation.
• Non-experts increasingly study protists, necessitating clear guidelines to avoid common research pitfalls.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide standardized terminology for soil protist research (e.g., protist, predator, microorganisms).
• To offer best practices for soil protist ecology, particularly concerning 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data interpretation.
• To guide non-experts in conducting reliable soil protist analyses and data interpretation.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and synthesis of current best practices in soil protist research.
• Comparative analysis of terminology used in soil protist studies.
• Identification of common errors in data interpretation, especially from sequencing data.

Main Results:

• Recommended terminology: 'protist' over 'protozoa', 'predator' over 'grazer', 'microorganisms' over 'microflora'.
• Cautionary notes on using bacterial bioinformatic settings for protist data and reliance on incomplete databases.
• Emphasis on the need for experimental validation over correlative analyses for causal inferences.

Conclusions:

• Adoption of standardized terminology and methods will enhance the reliability of soil protist research.
• Careful interpretation of sequencing data, avoiding overgeneralization, is crucial for accurate ecological conclusions.
• This guidance aims to improve the integration and understanding of protists within broader soil biodiversity studies.