Biological and physicochemical properties of the nests of White Stork Ciconia ciconia reveal soil entirely formed, modified and maintained by birds

Błońska, Ewa; Lasota, Jarosław; Jankowiak, Robert; Michalcewicz, Jakub; Wojas, T.; Zbyryt, Adam; Ciach, Michał

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143020

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Stork nests are typically used for several years or even decades with a continuous input of organic matter resulting in soil formation and the settlement of soil organisms as well as plants (10, 24). Thus, a stork’s nest is the perfect reproduction of a compost-like habitat, so that fungi- A. baumannii aerosols from the nest should be considered as a potential source of A. baumannii colonizing nestlings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the ecology ofAcinetobacter baumannii– jet stream rider and opportunist by nature

Wilharm,

Skiebe,

Łopińska

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The natural reservoirs of the nosocomial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii are not well defined. We previously identified white storks as a model system to study the ecology of A. baumannii. Having screened more than 1,300 white stork nestlings over a period of six years across different regions of Poland and Germany (overall isolation rate of ~29.5%), including food chain analyses and environmental samplings, we come up with a detailed picture of the dynamics and diversity of A. baumannii in their natural habitats. Adult storks, rather than being stably colonized with strains of A. baumannii which are successively transferred to their offspring, instead initially encounter these bacteria while foraging. Among their common food sources, consisting of earthworms, small mammals, and insects, we identified earthworms as a potential source of A. baumannii, but more so the associated soil as well as plant roots. Through this, hotspot soil and compost habitats were identified which enable population dynamics to be studied over the course of the year. We demonstrate that sterilized plant material is rapidly colonized by airborne A. baumannii suggesting they patrol to search for novel habitats, being opportunist by nature. The prevalence of A. baumannii exhibited a strong seasonality and peaked during summer. The strains we collected in Poland and Germany represent more than 50% of the worldwide known diversity in terms of the intrinsic OXA-51-like beta-lactamase. A set of ~400 genomes was determined and compared to a diverse set of publicly available genomes. Our pan-genome estimate of the species (~51,000 unique genes) more than doubles the amount proposed by previous studies. Core-genome based phylogenetic analyses illustrated numerous links between wildlife isolates and hospital strains, including ancient as well as recent intercontinental transfer. Our data further suggest massive radiation within the species early after its emergence, matching with human activity during the Neolithic. Deforestation in particular seemed to set the stage for this bloom as we found that forests do not provide conducive conditions for the proliferation of A. baumannii. In contrast, wet and nutrient-rich soil alongside rivers sampled during the summer can yield an isolation rate of ~30%. Linking published work on the interaction between A. baumannii and fungi and on aspergillosis as a major cause of mortality in white stork nestlings to our findings, we hypothesized that fungi and A. baumannii share a long history of coevolution. Interaction studies revealed the capability of A. baumannii to adhere to fungal spores and to suppress spore germination. Taken together, the intrinsic resistance endowment and potential to acquire antibiotic resistance can be explained by coevolution with antibiotic-producing fungi and other microorganisms within soil, and resistance to desiccation stress and radiation can be interpreted in the light of intercontinental hitchhiking through fungal spores.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the ecology ofAcinetobacter baumannii– jet stream rider and opportunist by nature

Wilharm,

Skiebe,

Łopińska

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…The results of the alpha diversity analysis in this study (Table S2) also show that the archaea diversity in NH is higher than that in XH. The physiological activities of birds affect the soil environment [65] and thus the structure of archaeal communities, but there is a lack of studies in this area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of Archaeal Diversity in the Arctic Meltwater Lake Region

Qin

Wang

Zheng

et al. 2023

Biology

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Two typical lakes formed from meltwater in the Ny-Ålesund area were taken as the study subjects in 2018. To investigate the archaeal community compositions of the two lakes, 16S rRNA genes from soil samples from the intertidal and subtidal zones of the two lakes were sequenced with high throughput. At the phylum level, the intertidal zone was dominated by Crenarchaeota and the subtidal zone was dominated by Halobacter; at the genus level, the intertidal zone was dominated by Nitrososphaeraceae_unclassified and Candidatus_Nitrocosmicus, while the subtidal zone was dominated by Methanoregula. The soil physicochemical factors pH, moisture content (MC), total organic carbon (TOC), total organic nitrogen (TON), nitrite nitrogen (NO2−-N), and nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) were significantly different in the intertidal and subtidal zones of the lake. By redundancy analysis, the results indicated that NH4+-N, SiO32−-Si, MC, NO3−-N, and NO2−-N have had highly significant effects on the archaeal diversity and distribution. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to search for hub archaea associated with physicochemical factors. The results suggested that these physicochemical factors play important roles in the diversity and structure of the archaeal community at different sites by altering the abundance of certain hub archaea. In addition, Woesearchaeales was found to be the hub archaea genus at every site.

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“…Serial dilutions 10 −2 , 10 −3 , 10 −4 , and 10 −5 were then prepared from this suspension. The methodology of the isolation procedures was previously described by Błońska et al ( 2021a ). Fungal taxa identified in nests of white stork and their frequencies (%) were detailed presented by Błońska et al ( 2021a ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Large birds created a microhabitat in their nests which was favourable to nest-mediated seed dispersal (Dylewski et al 2021 ). Recently, Błońska et al ( 2021a ) investigated the biological and physicochemical properties of white stork nests from north-east Poland and found that deposited materials gradually form soils over the years, with distinguishable layers possessing different physicochemical characteristics and biochemical activities. The results of this study indicated that the material contained in the nests could be characterised as lignic histosols ornithic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of chemical properties of the material deposited in nests of white stork in shaping enzymatic activity and fungal diversity

Błońska,

Jankowiak,

Lasota

et al. 2023

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Organic debris accumulated in bird nests creates a unique environment for organisms, including microbes. Built from various plant materials that are typically enriched by animal residues, bird nest favours the development of various fungal groups. The aim of this study was to investigate the chemical properties of the material deposited in the white stork Ciconia ciconia nests and the link between extracellular enzyme activity and the diversity and composition of culturable fungi. Our findings revealed low C/P and N/P ratio values in the nest materials, which indicate a high P availability. Nest material C/N/P ratio ranged from 67/8/1 to 438/33/1. Enzymatic activity strongly correlated with the content of carbon, nitrogen, and pH of the material deposited in the nests. A total of 2726 fungal isolates were obtained from the nests, from which 82 taxa were identified based on morphology and DNA sequence data. The study indicates that white stork nests are microhabitat characterised by diverse chemical and biochemical properties. We found relationship between the fungal richness and diversity and the C/P and N/P ratios of materials from the nests. Our study showed that culturable fungi occurred frequently in materials with high levels of C, N, and P, as well as high concentrations of base alkaline elements (Ca, Mg, and K).

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Biological and physicochemical properties of the nests of White Stork Ciconia ciconia reveal soil entirely formed, modified and maintained by birds

Cited by 14 publications

References 58 publications

On the ecology ofAcinetobacter baumannii– jet stream rider and opportunist by nature

On the ecology ofAcinetobacter baumannii– jet stream rider and opportunist by nature

Study of Archaeal Diversity in the Arctic Meltwater Lake Region

The role of chemical properties of the material deposited in nests of white stork in shaping enzymatic activity and fungal diversity

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