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Title: Spatial and successional dynamics of microbial biofilm communities in a grassland stream ecosystem

Journal Article · · Molecular Ecology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13784· OSTI ID:1346662
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4]
  1. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Division of Biology; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Biosciences Division
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Biological Sciences Division
  3. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Division of Biology; Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States). Department of Plant Biology
  4. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Division of Biology

Abstract Biofilms represent a metabolically active and structurally complex component of freshwater ecosystems. Ephemeral prairie streams are hydrologically harsh and prone to frequent perturbation. Elucidating both functional and structural community changes over time within prairie streams provides a general understanding of microbial responses to environmental disturbance. We examined microbial succession of biofilm communities at three sites in a third‐order stream at Konza Prairie over a 2‐ to 64‐day period. Microbial abundance (bacterial abundance, chlorophyll a concentrations) increased and never plateaued during the experiment. Net primary productivity (net balance of oxygen consumption and production) of the developing biofilms did not differ statistically from zero until 64 days suggesting a balance of the use of autochthonous and allochthonous energy sources until late succession. Bacterial communities (MiSeq analyses of the V4 region of 16S rRNA) established quickly. Bacterial richness, diversity and evenness were high after 2 days and increased over time. Several dominant bacterial phyla (Beta‐, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Gemmatimonadetes, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi) and genera ( Luteolibacter , Flavobacterium , Gemmatimonas , Hydrogenophaga ) differed in relative abundance over space and time. Bacterial community composition differed across both space and successional time. Pairwise comparisons of phylogenetic turnover in bacterial community composition indicated that early‐stage succession (≤16 days) was driven by stochastic processes, whereas later stages were driven by deterministic selection regardless of site. Our data suggest that microbial biofilms predictably develop both functionally and structurally indicating distinct successional trajectories of bacterial communities in this ecosystem.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1346662
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1401462
Journal Information:
Molecular Ecology, Vol. 25, Issue 18; ISSN 0962-1083
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 39 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

Climate warming leads to divergent succession of grassland microbial communities journal August 2018
Habitat filters mediate successional trajectories in bacterial communities associated with the striped shore crab journal November 2019
Use of in-field bioreactors demonstrate groundwater filtration influences planktonic bacterial community assembly, but not biofilm composition journal March 2018
Distinct Taxonomic and Functional Profiles of the Microbiome Associated With Different Soil Horizons of a Moist Tussock Tundra in Alaska journal June 2019
Using null models to compare bacterial and microeukaryotic metacommunity assembly under shifting environmental conditions journal September 2019
Testing the light:nutrient hypothesis: Insights into biofilm structure and function using metatranscriptomics journal July 2018
Factors influencing aquatic and terrestrial bacterial community assembly journal January 2019
Data from: Spatial and successional dynamics of microbial biofilm communities in a grassland stream ecosystem
  • Veach, Allison M.; Stegen, James C.; Brown, Shawn P.
  • Dryad Digital Repository-Supplementary information for journal article at DOI: 10.1111/mec.13784, 4 files https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m2r17
dataset July 2016
Using null models to compare bacterial and microeukaryotic metacommunity assembly under shifting environmental conditions journal February 2020