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Diver P, Ward BA, Cunliffe M. Physiological and morphological plasticity in response to nitrogen availability of a yeast widely distributed in the open ocean. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2024; 100:fiae053. [PMID: 38599628 PMCID: PMC11062419 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiae053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Yeasts are prevalent in the open ocean, yet we have limited understanding of their ecophysiological adaptations, including their response to nitrogen availability, which can have a major role in determining the ecological potential of other planktonic microbes. In this study, we characterized the nitrogen uptake capabilities and growth responses of marine-occurring yeasts. Yeast isolates from the North Atlantic Ocean were screened for growth on diverse nitrogen substrates, and across a concentration gradient of three environmentally relevant nitrogen substrates: nitrate, ammonium, and urea. Three strains grew with enriched nitrate while two did not, demonstrating that nitrate utilization is present but not universal in marine yeasts, consistent with existing knowledge of nonmarine yeast strains. Naganishia diffluens MBA_F0213 modified the key functional trait of cell size in response to nitrogen concentration, suggesting yeast cell morphology changes along chemical gradients in the marine environment. Meta-analysis of the reference DNA barcode in public databases revealed that the genus Naganishia has a global ocean distribution, strengthening the environmental applicability of the culture-based observations. This study provides novel quantitative understanding of the ecophysiological and morphological responses of marine-derived yeasts to variable nitrogen availability in vitro, providing insight into the functional ecology of yeasts within pelagic open ocean environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Poppy Diver
- Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, United Kingdom
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, United Kingdom
| | - Ben A Ward
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Cunliffe
- Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, United Kingdom
- School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom
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2
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Tekwa EW, Catalano KA, Bazzicalupo AL, O'Connor MI, Pinsky ML. The sizes of life. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0283020. [PMID: 36989258 PMCID: PMC10057745 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent research has revealed the diversity and biomass of life across ecosystems, but how that biomass is distributed across body sizes of all living things remains unclear. We compile the present-day global body size-biomass spectra for the terrestrial, marine, and subterranean realms. To achieve this compilation, we pair existing and updated biomass estimates with previously uncatalogued body size ranges across all free-living biological groups. These data show that many biological groups share similar ranges of body sizes, and no single group dominates size ranges where cumulative biomass is highest. We then propagate biomass and size uncertainties and provide statistical descriptions of body size-biomass spectra across and within major habitat realms. Power laws show exponentially decreasing abundance (exponent -0.9±0.02 S.D., R2 = 0.97) and nearly equal biomass (exponent 0.09±0.01, R2 = 0.56) across log size bins, which resemble previous aquatic size spectra results but with greater organismal inclusivity and global coverage. In contrast, a bimodal Gaussian mixture model describes the biomass pattern better (R2 = 0.86) and suggests small (~10-15 g) and large (~107 g) organisms outweigh other sizes by one order magnitude (15 and 65 Gt versus ~1 Gt per log size). The results suggest that the global body size-biomass relationships is bimodal, but substantial one-to-two orders-of-magnitude uncertainty mean that additional data will be needed to clarify whether global-scale universal constraints or local forces shape these patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eden W Tekwa
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, United States of America
| | - Katrina A Catalano
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, United States of America
| | - Anna L Bazzicalupo
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Mary I O'Connor
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Malin L Pinsky
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, United States of America
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Benstead JP, Cross WF, Gulis V, Rosemond AD. Combined carbon flows through detritus, microbes, and animals in reference and experimentally enriched stream ecosystems. Ecology 2020; 102:e03279. [PMID: 33368179 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2020] [Revised: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Tracking carbon (C) flow through ecosystems requires quantification of myriad biophysical processes, including C routing through microbial and metazoan food webs. Yet detailed organic matter budgets are rarely combined with simultaneous measurement of C flows supporting microbial and animal production. Here, we synthesize concurrent data sets on organic matter, microbes, and macroinvertebrates from two detritus-based stream ecosystems, one of which was subject to experimental nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) enrichment. Our synthesis provides new insights into C flow through forest stream ecosystems. Over 3 yr, the reference stream showed a striking balance of inputs and outputs, with a mean surplus of only 7 g C·m-2 ·yr-1 (~1% of annual inputs), presumably stored in sediments as fine particulate organic matter (FPOM). In contrast, N and P enrichment over 2 yr resulted in severe deficits of C (-576 g C·m-2 ·yr-1 or ~170% of annual inputs), a shortfall presumably met by stored C. Our data set provides an ecosystem-based estimate of the fate of forest litter C at ambient nutrient concentrations: 6.2% was leached as dissolved organic C, 40.6% and 8.5% flowed to litter-associated fungi and bacteria, respectively, 7.5% was consumed by macroinvertebrates, 1.8% was exported as coarse particles, and the remainder (35.4%) was presumably fragmented by biophysical processes. Our calculations also allowed an estimate of inputs into the heterogeneous FPOM pool, which is otherwise difficult to obtain. At naturally low nutrient concentrations, 50.7% was derived from fragmented litter, 39.1% from microbial biomass (mostly fungal), and 10.2% from macroinvertebrate egesta. Nutrient addition drove large changes in C fluxes in the experimental stream, especially in flows of leaf litter to fungi (×1.7 pretreatment) and macroinvertebrates (×2.7), and of FPOM to hydrologic export (×2.6). Our results underscore the key roles of both microbes and metazoans in controlling C flow through detritus-based ecosystems, as well as how release from persistent nutrient limitation may perturb steady-state conditions of C inputs vs. outputs. Our analysis also suggests areas for future research, including assessing the relative importance of stored vs. recycled C in fueling detrital food webs subject to altered nutrient regimes and other global-change drivers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan P Benstead
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35487, USA
| | - Wyatt F Cross
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, 59717, USA
| | - Vlad Gulis
- Department of Biology, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, South Carolina, 29528, USA
| | - Amy D Rosemond
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA
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Zanne AE, Powell JR, Flores-Moreno H, Kiers ET, van 't Padje A, Cornwell WK. Finding fungal ecological strategies: Is recycling an option? FUNGAL ECOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2019.100902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Abstract
As the primary decomposers of organic material in terrestrial ecosystems, fungi are critical agents of the global carbon cycle. Yet our ability to link fungal community composition to ecosystem functioning is constrained by a limited understanding of the factors accounting for different wood decomposition rates among fungi. Here we examine which traits best explain fungal decomposition ability by combining detailed trait-based assays on 34 saprotrophic fungi from across North America in the laboratory with a 5-y field study comprising 1,582 fungi isolated from 74 decomposing logs. Fungal growth rate (hyphal extension rate) was the strongest single predictor of fungal-mediated wood decomposition rate under laboratory conditions, and accounted for up to 27% of the in situ variation in decomposition in the field. At the individual level, decomposition rate was negatively correlated with moisture niche width (an indicator of drought stress tolerance) and with the production of nutrient-mineralizing extracellular enzymes. Together, these results suggest that decomposition rates strongly align with a dominance-tolerance life-history trade-off that was previously identified in these isolates, forming a spectrum from slow-growing, stress-tolerant fungi that are poor decomposers to fast-growing, highly competitive fungi with fast decomposition rates. Our study illustrates how an understanding of fungal trait variation could improve our predictive ability of the early and midstages of wood decay, to which our findings are most applicable. By mapping our results onto the biogeographic distribution of the dominance-tolerance trade-off across North America, we approximate broad-scale patterns in intrinsic fungal-mediated wood decomposition rates.
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Zanne AE, Abarenkov K, Afkhami ME, Aguilar-Trigueros CA, Bates S, Bhatnagar JM, Busby PE, Christian N, Cornwell WK, Crowther TW, Flores-Moreno H, Floudas D, Gazis R, Hibbett D, Kennedy P, Lindner DL, Maynard DS, Milo AM, Nilsson RH, Powell J, Schildhauer M, Schilling J, Treseder KK. Fungal functional ecology: bringing a trait-based approach to plant-associated fungi. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2019; 95:409-433. [PMID: 31763752 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 107] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2018] [Revised: 10/27/2019] [Accepted: 10/31/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Fungi play many essential roles in ecosystems. They facilitate plant access to nutrients and water, serve as decay agents that cycle carbon and nutrients through the soil, water and atmosphere, and are major regulators of macro-organismal populations. Although technological advances are improving the detection and identification of fungi, there still exist key gaps in our ecological knowledge of this kingdom, especially related to function. Trait-based approaches have been instrumental in strengthening our understanding of plant functional ecology and, as such, provide excellent models for deepening our understanding of fungal functional ecology in ways that complement insights gained from traditional and -omics-based techniques. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge of fungal functional ecology, taxonomy and systematics and introduce a novel database of fungal functional traits (FunFun ). FunFun is built to interface with other databases to explore and predict how fungal functional diversity varies by taxonomy, guild, and other evolutionary or ecological grouping variables. To highlight how a quantitative trait-based approach can provide new insights, we describe multiple targeted examples and end by suggesting next steps in the rapidly growing field of fungal functional ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy E Zanne
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, U.S.A
| | - Kessy Abarenkov
- Natural History Museum, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu, 51014, Estonia
| | - Michelle E Afkhami
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, U.S.A
| | - Carlos A Aguilar-Trigueros
- Freie Universität-Berlin, Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Scott Bates
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University Northwest, Westville, IN, 46391, U.S.A
| | | | - Posy E Busby
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97330, U.S.A
| | - Natalie Christian
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, U.S.A.,Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208, U.S.A
| | - William K Cornwell
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia
| | - Thomas W Crowther
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Habacuc Flores-Moreno
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, and Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, U.S.A
| | - Dimitrios Floudas
- Microbial Ecology Group, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Romina Gazis
- Department of Plant Pathology, Tropical Research & Education Center, University of Florida, Homestead, FL, 33031, U.S.A
| | - David Hibbett
- Biology Department, Clark University, Worcester, MA, 01610, U.S.A
| | - Peter Kennedy
- Plant & Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, U.S.A
| | - Daniel L Lindner
- US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Center for Forest Mycology Research, Madison, Wisconsin, WI, 53726, U.S.A
| | - Daniel S Maynard
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Amy M Milo
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, U.S.A
| | - Rolf Henrik Nilsson
- University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Box 461, 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Jeff Powell
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia
| | - Mark Schildhauer
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 735 State Street, Suite 300, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, U.S.A
| | - Jonathan Schilling
- Plant & Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, U.S.A
| | - Kathleen K Treseder
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, U.S.A
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Aguilar-Trigueros CA, Hempel S, Powell JR, Cornwell WK, Rillig MC. Bridging reproductive and microbial ecology: a case study in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. THE ISME JOURNAL 2019; 13:873-884. [PMID: 30504896 PMCID: PMC6461870 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-018-0314-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Revised: 07/18/2018] [Accepted: 10/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Offspring size is a key trait for understanding the reproductive ecology of species, yet studies addressing the ecological meaning of offspring size have so far been limited to macro-organisms. We consider this a missed opportunity in microbial ecology and provide what we believe is the first formal study of offspring-size variation in microbes using reproductive models developed for macro-organisms. We mapped the entire distribution of fungal spore size in the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (subphylum Glomeromycotina) and tested allometric expectations of this trait to offspring (spore) output and body size. Our results reveal a potential paradox in the reproductive ecology of AM fungi: while large spore-size variation is maintained through evolutionary time (independent of body size), increases in spore size trade off with spore output. That is, parental mycelia of large-spored species produce fewer spores and thus may have a fitness disadvantage compared to small-spored species. The persistence of the large-spore strategy, despite this apparent fitness disadvantage, suggests the existence of advantages to large-spored species that could manifest later in fungal life history. Thus, we consider that solving this paradox opens the door to fruitful future research establishing the relationship between offspring size and other AM life history traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos A Aguilar-Trigueros
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, Berlin, D-14195, Germany.
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, D-14195, Germany.
| | - Stefan Hempel
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, Berlin, D-14195, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, D-14195, Germany
| | - Jeff R Powell
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
| | - William K Cornwell
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Matthias C Rillig
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, Berlin, D-14195, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, D-14195, Germany
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8
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Ahlswede S, Fabiano EC, Keeping D, Birkhofer K. Using the Formozov–Malyshev–Pereleshin formula to convert mammal spoor counts into density estimates for long‐term community‐level monitoring. Afr J Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/aje.12587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Steve Ahlswede
- Department of Ecology Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus Germany
| | | | - Derek Keeping
- Department of Renewable Resources University of Alberta Edmonton Alberta Canada
| | - Klaus Birkhofer
- Department of Ecology Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus Germany
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9
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Consistent trade-offs in fungal trait expression across broad spatial scales. Nat Microbiol 2019; 4:846-853. [DOI: 10.1038/s41564-019-0361-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2018] [Accepted: 01/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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10
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