Evolutionary history constrains microbial traits across environmental variation

Morrissey, Ember M.; Mau, Rebecca L.; Hayer, Michaela; Liu, Xiao-Jun Allen; Schwartz, Egbert; Dijkstra, Paul; Koch, Benjamin J.; Allen, Kara; Blazewicz, Steven J.; Hofmockel, Kirsten; Pett-Ridge, Jennifer; Hungate, Bruce A.

doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0918-y

Evolutionary history constrains microbial traits across environmental variation

Journal Article · Mon Jun 17 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Nature Ecology and Evolution

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0918-y· OSTI ID:1557393

^[1]; Mau, Rebecca L.; Hayer, Michaela; ; Schwartz, Egbert; Dijkstra, Paul; Koch, Benjamin J.; Allen, Kara; Blazewicz, Steven J.; ; ;

Northern Arizona University

Organisms influence ecosystems, from element cycling to disturbance regimes, to trophic interactions, to energy partitioning. Microorganisms are part of this influence, and understanding their ecology in nature requires studying traits of these organisms quantitatively in their natural habitats, a challenging task, but one which new approaches now make possible. Here, we show that growth rate and carbon assimilation rate of soil microorganisms are more influenced by evolutionary history than by climate, even across a broad climatic gradient spanning major temperate life zones, from mixed conifer forest to high desert grassland. Most of the explained variation (~50% to ~90%) in growth rate and carbon assimilation rate was attributable to difference among taxonomic groups indicating a strong influence of evolutionary history, and taxonomic groupings were more predictive for organisms responding to resource addition. With added carbon and nitrogen substrates, differences among taxonomic groups explained ~8 times more variance in growth rate than did the differences in ecosystem type. Taxon-specific growth and carbon assimilation rates were highly intercorrelated across the four ecosystems, constrained by the taxonomic identity of the organisms, such that plasticity driven by environment was limited across ecosystems varying in temperature, precipitation, and dominant vegetation. Taken together our results suggest that, similar to multicellular life, the traits of prokaryotes in their natural habitats are constrained by evolutionary history to a greater degree than environmental variation.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23). Biological Systems Science Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830; AC52-07NA27344; SC0016207

OSTI ID:: 1557393

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1557394
OSTI ID: 1567269

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--771085; PNNL-SA--147133; 9285230925

Journal Information:: Nature Ecology and Evolution, Journal Name: Nature Ecology and Evolution Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 3; ISSN 2397-334X

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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