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Zhou Y, Meng F, Ochieng B, Xu J, Zhang L, Kimirei IA, Feng M, Zhu L, Wang J. Climate and Environmental Variables Drive Stream Biofilm Bacterial and Fungal Diversity on Tropical Mountainsides. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2024; 87:28. [PMID: 38182675 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-023-02335-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
High mountain freshwater systems are particularly sensitive to the impacts of global warming and relevant environmental changes. Microorganisms contribute substantially to biogeochemical processes, yet their distribution patterns and driving mechanism in alpine streams remain understudied. Here, we examined the bacterial and fungal community compositions in stream biofilm along the elevational gradient of 745-1874 m on Mt. Kilimanjaro and explored their alpha and beta diversity patterns and the underlying environmental drivers. We found that the species richness and evenness monotonically increased towards higher elevations for bacteria, while were non-significant for fungi. However, both bacterial and fungal communities showed consistent elevational distance-decay relationships, i.e., the dissimilarity of assemblage composition increased with greater elevational differences. Bacterial alpha diversity patterns were mainly affected by chemical variables such as total nitrogen and phosphorus, while fungi were affected by physical variables such as riparian shading and stream width. Notably, climatic variables such as mean annual temperature strongly affected the elevational succession of bacterial and fungal community compositions. Our study is the first exploration of microbial biodiversity and their underlying driving mechanisms for stream ecosystems in tropical alpine regions. Our findings provide insights on the response patterns of tropical aquatic microbial community composition and diversity under climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanan Zhou
- College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210046, China
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Fanfan Meng
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Beryl Ochieng
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Jianing Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China
- School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Lu Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | | | - Muhua Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Lifeng Zhu
- College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210046, China.
- School of Medicine & Holistic Integrative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023, China.
| | - Jianjun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China.
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Liu J, Zhao W, Ren M, Liu Y, Xu Y, Wang J. Contrasting elevational patterns and underlying drivers of stream bacteria and fungi at the regional scale on the Tibetan Plateau. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2022; 98:6575535. [PMID: 35482597 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiac050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2021] [Revised: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Elevational gradients are the focus of development and evaluation of general theories on biodiversity. However, elevational studies of microorganisms and the underlying mechanisms remain understudied, especially at regional scales. Here, we examined stream bacterial and fungal communities along an elevational gradient of 990-4,600 m with a geographic distance up to 500 km in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau and further analyzed their elevational patterns and drivers of three biodiversity indicators, including species richness, ecological uniqueness and community composition. Bacteria and fungi showed distinct elevational trends in species richness and consistently decreasing patterns in their ecological uniqueness. The distance-decay relationships were concordant for the two microbial groups, while fungi showed higher dissimilarity and a lower turnover rate. Interestingly, bacterial and fungal compositions substantially differed between the elevations below and above 3,000 m. Climate predictors, such as the mean annual temperature and precipitation seasonality, had greater effects than local environment drivers. Notably, fungal diversity was mainly influenced by climate, while bacterial diversity was explained by the shared contributions of climate and local factors. Collectively, these findings revealed the elevational patterns of stream microbial biodiversity across mountains on a large spatial scale and highlight their underlying response mechanisms to environmental predictors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiawen Liu
- Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.,State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Wenqian Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 1000049, China
| | - Minglei Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 1000049, China
| | - Yongqin Liu
- Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 1000049, China
| | - Yan Xu
- Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
| | - Jianjun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 1000049, China
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Heil JA, Wolock CJ, Pierce NE, Pringle A, Bittleston LS. Sarracenia pitcher plant-associated microbial communities differ primarily by host species across a longitudinal gradient. Environ Microbiol 2022; 24:3500-3516. [PMID: 35384233 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Plant-associated microbial communities can profoundly affect plant health and success, and research is still uncovering factors driving the assembly of these communities. Here, we examine how geography versus host species affect microbial community structure and differential abundances of individual taxa. We use metabarcoding to characterize the bacteria and eukaryotes associated with five, often co-occurring species of Sarracenia pitcher plants (Sarraceniaceae) and three natural hybrids along the longitudinal gradient of the U.S. Gulf Coast, as well as samples from S. purpurea in Massachusetts. To tease apart the effects of geography versus host species, we focus first on sites with co-occurring species and then on species located across different sites. Our analyses show that bacterial and eukaryotic community structures are clearly and consistently influenced by host species identity, with geographic factors also playing a role. Naturally-occurring hybrids appear to also host unique communities, that are in some ways intermediate between their parent species. We see significant effects of geography (site and longitude), but these generally explain less of the variation among pitcher communities. Overall, in Sarracenia pitchers, host plant phenotype significantly affects the pitcher microbiomes and other associated organisms. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Heil
- Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University
| | | | - Naomi E Pierce
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
| | - Anne Pringle
- Departments of Botany and Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Bittleston LS, Benson EL, Bernardin JR, Pierce NE. Characterization and Comparison of Convergence Among Cephalotus follicularis Pitcher Plant-Associated Communities With Those of Nepenthes and Sarracenia Found Worldwide. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:887635. [PMID: 35734258 PMCID: PMC9207445 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.887635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
The Albany pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicularis, has evolved cup-shaped leaves and a carnivorous habit completely independently from other lineages of pitcher plants. It is the only species in the family Cephalotaceae and is restricted to a small region of Western Australia. Here, we used metabarcoding to characterize the bacterial and eukaryotic communities living in C. follicularis pitchers at two different sites. Bacterial and eukaryotic communities were correlated in both richness and composition; however, the factors associated with richness were not the same across bacteria and eukaryotes, with bacterial richness differing with fluid color, and eukaryotic richness differing with the concentration of DNA extracted from the fluid, a measure roughly related to biomass. For turnover in composition, the variation in both bacterial and eukaryotic communities primarily differed with fluid acidity, fluid color, and sampling site. We compared C. follicularis-associated community diversity with that of Australian Nepenthes mirabilis, as well as a global comparison of Southeast Asian Nepenthes and North American Sarracenia. Our results showed similarity in richness with communities from other pitcher plants, and specific bacterial taxa shared among all three independent lineages of pitcher plants. Overall, we saw convergence in richness and particular clades colonizing pitcher plants around the world, suggesting that these highly specialized habitats select for certain numbers and types of inhabitants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonora S. Bittleston
- Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, United States
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
- *Correspondence: Leonora S. Bittleston,
| | - Elizabeth L. Benson
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Jessica R. Bernardin
- Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, United States
| | - Naomi E. Pierce
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
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Demari-Silva B, Laporta GZ, de Oliveira TMP, Sallum MAM. Evidence of Elevational Speciation in Kerteszia cruzii (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Ribeira Valley, São Paulo, Brazil. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.707642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Kerteszia cruzii [former Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii] is a bromeliad mosquito widespread in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. In South-eastern Brazil, it plays an important role in malaria transmission because it was infected with at least four Plasmodium species. There is robust evidence that Ke. cruzii is a species complex. We used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from a nextRAD sequence (nextera-tagmented, reductively amplified DNA) to investigate the genetic structure of Ke. cruzii in the Ribeira Valley, South-eastern Brazil. Furthermore, we verified whether the genetic structure was associated with forest cover, elevation, slope, and vegetation physiognomy. Our results showed two distinct lineages in the studied region associated with elevation and isolation by distance. The first lineage included samples from coastal localities and the second comprised specimens from inland or mountain sites. At one sampling locality (Esteiro do Morro in Cananéia municipality), both lineages are sympatric. These results are in accordance with previously published data that showed elevated stratification in Ke. cruzii. However, Fst values did not indicate the existence of cryptic or sister species in Ke. cruzii in this region, we concluded that elevational speciation probably occurs, and we hypothesized that differences in population structure found might be associated with the distribution of bromeliad species.
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