Diversity–Function Relationships and the Underlying Ecological Mechanisms in Host-Associated Microbial Communities

Cuellar-Gempeler, Catalina

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-63512-1_17

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 204 publications

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“…It would be interesting to examine how generalism or co-regulation shifts during microbial succession (Armitage, 2017;Miller & Terhorst, 2012), across plant species (Bittleston et al, 2018), or as a response to trophic dynamics (Canter et al, 2018;Cuellar-Gempeler, 2021;Kneitel & Miller, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity‐ecosystem function relationships

D'Andrea,

Khattar,

Koffel

et al. 2024

Ecology Letters

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The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) captivates ecologists, but the factors responsible for the direction of this relationship remain unclear. While higher ecosystem functioning at higher biodiversity levels (‘positive BEF’) is not universal in nature, negative BEF relationships seem puzzlingly rare. Here, we develop a dynamical consumer‐resource model inspired by microbial decomposer communities in pitcher plant leaves to investigate BEF. We manipulate microbial diversity via controlled colonization and measure their function as total ammonia production. We test how niche partitioning among bacteria and other ecological processes influence BEF in the leaves. We find that a negative BEF can emerge from reciprocal interspecific inhibition in ammonia production causing a negative complementarity effect, or from competitive hierarchies causing a negative selection effect. Absent these factors, a positive BEF was the typical outcome. Our findings provide a potential explanation for the rarity of negative BEF in empirical data.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity‐ecosystem function relationships

D'Andrea,

Khattar,

Koffel

et al. 2024

Ecology Letters

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“…Co-regulation is likely in this system since many degradation pathways require extracellular enzymes that may result in exploitative common goods, a situation that can stabilize with regulatory pathways (Estrela et al 2012, Dandekar et al 2012. It would be interesting to ask whether the influence of generalism or co-regulation change as the microbial community undergoes succession (Miller andterHorst 2012, Armitage 2017), across plant species (Bittleston et al 2018), or as a response to trophic dynamics (Cuellar-Gempeler et al 2021, Canter et al 2018, Miller and Kneitel 2003.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships

D'Andrea,

Khattar,

Koffel

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) captivates ecologists, but the factors responsible for the direction of this relationship remain unclear. While higher ecosystem functioning at higher biodiversity levels (‘positive BEF’) is not universal in nature, negative BEF relationships seem puzzlingly rare. Here, we develop a dynamical consumer-resource model inspired by microbial decomposer communities in pitcher plant leaves to investigate BEF. We manipulate microbial diversity via controlled colonization and measure their function as total ammonia production. We test how niche partitioning among bacteria and other ecological processes influence BEF in the leaves. We find that a negative BEF can emerge from reciprocal interspecific inhibition in ammonia production causing a negative complementarity effect, or from competitive hierarchies causing a negative selection effect. Absent these factors, a positive BEF was the typical outcome. Our findings provide a potential explanation for the rarity of negative BEF in empirical data.

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Arthropod prey type drives decomposition rates and microbial community processes

Bernardin,

Gray,

Bittleston

2024

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Microbial communities perform various functions, many of which contribute to ecosystem-level nutrient cycling via decomposition. Factors influencing leaf detrital decomposition are well understood in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, but much less is known about arthropod detrital inputs. Here, we sought to infer how differences in arthropod detritus affect microbial-driven decomposition and community function in a carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea . Using sterile mesh bags filled with different types of sterile arthropod prey, we assessed if prey type influenced the rate of decomposition in pitcher plants over 7 weeks. Additionally, we measured microbial community composition and function, including hydrolytic enzyme activity and carbon substrate use. When comparing decomposition rates, we found that ant and beetle prey with higher exoskeleton content lost less mass compared with fly prey. We observed the highest protease activity in the fly treatment, which had the lowest exoskeleton content. Additionally, we saw differences in the pH of the pitcher fluid, driven by the ant treatment which had the lowest pH. According to our results from 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding, prey treatments with the highest bacterial amplicon sequence variant (ASV) richness (ant and beetle) were associated with prey that lost a lower proportion of mass over the 7 weeks. Overall, arthropod detritus provides unique nutrient sources to decomposer communities, with different prey influencing microbial hydrolytic enzyme activity and composition. IMPORTANCE Microbial communities play pivotal roles in nutrient cycling via decomposition and nutrient transformation; however, it is often unclear how different substrates influence microbial activity and community composition. Our study highlights how different types of insects influence decomposition and, in turn, microbial composition and function. We use the aquatic pools found in a carnivorous pitcher plant as small, discrete ecosystems that we can manipulate and study independently. We find that some insect prey (flies) breaks down faster than others (beetles or ants) likely because flies contain more things that are easy for microbes to eat and derive essential nutrients from. This is also reflected in higher enzyme activity in the microbes decomposing the flies. Our work bridges a knowledge gap about how different substrates affect microbial decomposition, contributing to the broader understanding of ecosystem function in a nutrient cycling context.

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Diversity–Function Relationships and the Underlying Ecological Mechanisms in Host-Associated Microbial Communities

Cited by 3 publications

References 204 publications

Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity‐ecosystem function relationships

Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity‐ecosystem function relationships

Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships

Arthropod prey type drives decomposition rates and microbial community processes

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