Importance of space and the local environment for linking local and regional abundances of microbes

Östman, Örjan; Drakare, Stina; Kritzberg, Emma S.; Langenheder, Silke; Logue, Jürg Brendan; Lindström, Eva S.

doi:10.3354/ame01581

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Spatial factors can also explain variation in community composition indicating that, for example, dispersal‐related mechanisms such as mass effects and dispersal limitation can be important as well (Langenheder et al ., ; Lindström & Langenheder, ). Moreover, it has been shown that bacterial communities can be neutrally assembled, because abundances of taxa at the local scale are often well correlated with the occurrence and abundance of taxa in the metacommunity (Sloan et al ., ; Östman et al ., ), in particular in those which lack strong environmental gradients (Östman et al ., ). It has also been shown that different mechanisms act simultaneously during the assembly of bacterial communities (Ofiteru et al ., ; Langenheder & Szekely, ; Stegen et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The importance of species sorting differs between habitat generalists and specialists in bacterial communities

Székely

Langenheder

2013

FEMS Microbiol Ecol

194

165

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Recent studies have shown that the spatial turnover of bacterial communities, that is, beta-diversity, is determined by a combination of different assembly mechanisms, such as species sorting, that is, environmental filtering, and dispersal-related mechanisms. However, it is currently unclear to what extent the importance of the different mechanisms depends on community traits. Here, we implemented a study using a rock pool metacommunity to test whether habitat specialization of bacterial taxa and groups or their phylogenetic identity influenced by which mechanisms communities were assembled. In general, our results show that species sorting was the most important assembly mechanism. However, we found that a larger fraction of the variation in bacterial community composition between pools could be explained by environmental factors in case of habitat generalists, that is, taxa that were widespread and abundant in the metacommunity, compared with habitat specialists, that is, taxa that had a more restricted distribution range and tended to be rare. Differences in assembly mechanisms were observed between different major phyla and classes. However, also here, a larger fraction of the variation in community composition among pools could be explained for taxonomic groups that contained on average more habitat generalists. In summary, our results show that species sorting is stronger for the most common taxa, indicating that beta-diversity along environmental gradients can be adequately described without considering rare taxa.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The importance of species sorting differs between habitat generalists and specialists in bacterial communities

Székely

Langenheder

2013

FEMS Microbiol Ecol

194

165

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“…The observed importance of local environmental conditions for the bacterioplankton has been ascribed to high dispersal rates combined with rapid local dynamics of bacteria, due to their high population growth rates (Van Der Gucht et al ., ). However, it has also been argued that the emphasis on species sorting could be an artefact because it is the mechanism that is easiest to measure, detect and interpret (Lindström & Langenheder, ; Östman et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

An experimental analysis of species sorting and mass effects in freshwater bacterioplankton

et al. 2014

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1. While metacommunities of bacterioplankton are generally considered to be structured primarily by local environmental conditions (through species sorting), additional ecological processes such as dispersal limitation, neutral dynamics or mass effects can influence community structure. Under the mass effects paradigm, continuous or large influxes of organisms, not self-maintaining in the target environment, affect community structure. 2. We used communities of freshwater bacterioplankton to quantify the outcome of mass effects and species sorting in a laboratory experiment in which we exchanged cells between two communities from contrasting ponds (eutrophic and mesotrophic) at a rate of 0.025, 0.25, 2.5 and 12.5% of the cells present per day. 3. When cells were exchanged only once on day 1 of the experiment, the reciprocally exchanged communities in all dispersal treatments remained as divergent, after 20 days, as the unexchanged control communities, reflecting strong species sorting and no strong influences of dispersal limitation and neutral dynamics on the observed bacterioplankton. 4. Under daily cell exchange, however, community similarity between the reciprocally exchanged communities increased significantly with increasing dispersal rate, indicating an increasing influence of mass effects relative to species sorting. The responses differed at the level of community composition and ecosystem processes, and depended on pond identity. At the community level, a daily exchange of 2.5% was necessary to increase community similarity compared with the unexchanged controls, while at the ecosystem process level (Biolog GN2 metabolic profiles), a daily exchange rate of 0.25% was sufficient. 5. Mass effects can evidently overcome species sorting in freshwater bacterioplankton, but only under relatively high dispersal rates that are unlikely to occur in nature among habitats without a direct hydrological connection. Mass effects in the freshwater bacterioplankton acted differently at the community composition and ecosystem process level.

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“…It has, for example, been shown that taxa presence and abundance is often to a strong degree influenced by the regional species pool [ 20 , 21 ]. In this respect, taxa that are regionally abundant are, on average, also abundant at the local scale, at least when local environmental conditions do not differ strongly from each other [ 22 , 23 ]. In addition to these neutral effects, dispersal can also be limiting and thereby restrict the occurrence of taxa in suitable habitats, or cause mass effects when dispersal rates are very high [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Dispersal and Initial Diversity on the Composition and Functional Performance of Bacterial Communities

et al. 2016

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Natural communities are open systems and consequently dispersal can play an important role for the diversity, composition and functioning of communities at the local scale. It is, however, still unclear how effects of dispersal differ depending on the initial diversity of local communities. Here we implemented an experiment where we manipulated the initial diversity of natural freshwater bacterioplankton communities using a dilution-to-extinction approach as well as dispersal from a regional species pool. The aim was further to test whether dispersal effects on bacterial abundance and functional parameters (average community growth rates, respiration rates, substrate utilisation ability) differ in dependence of the initial diversity of the communities. First of all, we found that both initial diversity and dispersal rates had an effect on the recruitment of taxa from a regional source, which was higher in communities with low initial diversity and at higher rates of dispersal. Higher initial diversity and dispersal also promoted higher levels of richness and evenness in local communities and affected, both, separately or interactively, the functional performance of communities. Our study therefore suggests that dispersal can influence the diversity, composition and functioning of bacterial communities and that this effect may be enhanced if the initial diversity of communities is depleted.

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Importance of space and the local environment for linking local and regional abundances of microbes

Cited by 11 publications

References 27 publications

The importance of species sorting differs between habitat generalists and specialists in bacterial communities

The importance of species sorting differs between habitat generalists and specialists in bacterial communities

An experimental analysis of species sorting and mass effects in freshwater bacterioplankton

Effects of Dispersal and Initial Diversity on the Composition and Functional Performance of Bacterial Communities

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