Differences in distribution and community structure of plant-parasitic nematodes in pecan orchards between two ecoregions of Georgia

In Georgia, pecans are commercially grown in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain ecoregions which are characterized by sandy-loam, sandy, and/or clay soils. If well-drained, these soils are suitable for pecan production, but the soil characteristics differ enough between ecoregions in which the plant-parasitic nematode (PPN) communities could differ substantially. We studied PPN communities in pecan orchards to evaluate the potential for ecoregion differences. In total, 11 genera ( , , , , , , , , , , ) were recovered from pecan orchards in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain ecoregions. However, Non-Metric Multi-Dimensional Scaling ordination, Multi-Rank Permutation Procedure, and Indicator Species Analyses indicated that the pecan PPN communities strongly differed between ecoregions and that different genera were strongly associated with different ecoregions. For 9 of the 11 PPN genera, the maximum counts occurred in Coastal Plain locations, suggesting that the well-drained sandy soils of the Coastal Plain and comparatively ill-drained red clay soils of the Piedmont may be conducive and unfavorable for movement/reproduction of PPNs, respectively.