Microorganisms are the earliest colonisers of newly formed terrestrial surfaces, playing an important role in the development of ecosystems and the subsequent process of community succession, including early plant colonisers. 

 

In this PhD project, Vito will determine the potential interaction between plants and early bacterial colonisers in soil formation. The hypothesis is that as plants colonise volcanic soil, they become a major source of carbon for the microbial community, predicting a greater diversity of bacteria in plant-microbe interactions and a greater turnover of carbon in soil following growth of plants early in the succession.