Lake Bacterial Assemblage Composition Is Sensitive to Biological Disturbance Caused by an Invasive Filter Feeder
[1];
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Central Michigan Univ., Mount Pleasant, MI (United States). Dept. of Biology
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab.
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Cooperative Inst. for Limnology and Ecosystems Research
- Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)
One approach to improve forecasts of how global change will affect ecosystem processes is to better understand how anthropogenic disturbances alter bacterial assemblages that drive biogeochemical cycles. Species invasions are important contributors to global change, but their impacts on bacterial community ecology are rarely investigated. Here, we studied direct impacts of invasive dreissenid mussels (IDMs), one of many invasive filter feeders, on freshwater lake bacterioplankton. We demonstrated that direct effects of IDMs reduced bacterial abundance and altered assemblage composition by preferentially removing larger and particle-associated bacteria. While this increased the relative abundances of many free-living bacterial taxa, some were susceptible to filter feeding, in line with efficient removal of phytoplankton cells of <2 μm. This selective removal of particle-associated and larger bacteria by IDMs altered inferred bacterial functional group representation, defined by carbon and energy source utilization. Specifically, we inferred an increased relative abundance of chemoorganoheterotrophs predicted to be capable of rhodopsin-dependent energy generation. In contrast to the few previous studies that have focused on the longer-term combined direct and indirect effects of IDMs on bacterioplankton, our study showed that IDMs act directly as a biological disturbance to which freshwater bacterial assemblages are sensitive. The negative impacts on particle-associated bacteria, which have been shown to be more active than free-living bacteria, and the inferred shifts in functional group representation raise the possibility that IDMs may directly alter bacterially mediated ecosystem functions.Freshwater bacteria play fundamental roles in global elemental cycling and are an intrinsic part of local food webs. Human activities are altering freshwater environments, and much has been learned regarding the sensitivity of bacterial assemblages to a variety of these disturbances. Yet, relatively few studies have focused on how species invasion, which is one of the most important aspects of anthropogenic global change, affects freshwater bacterial assemblages. This study focuses on the impact of invasive dreissenid mussels (IDMs), a globally distributed group of invasive species with large impacts on freshwater phyto- and zooplankton assemblages. Here, we show that IDMs have direct effects on lake bacterioplankton abundance, taxonomic composition, and inferred bacterial functional group representation.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Central Michigan Univ., Mount Pleasant, MI (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1393845
- Journal Information:
- mSphere, Vol. 2, Issue 3; ISSN 2379-5042
- Publisher:
- American Society for MicrobiologyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Flow cytometric monitoring of bacterioplankton phenotypic diversity predicts high population-specific feeding rates by invasive dreissenid mussels: Phenotypic tracking of bacterioplankton
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journal | November 2017 |
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