Substrate-Controlled Succession of Marine Bacterioplankton Populations Induced by a Phytoplankton Bloom

Abstract

Phytoplankton blooms characterize temperate ocean margin zones in spring. We investigated the bacterioplankton response to a diatom bloom in the North Sea and observed a dynamic succession of populations at genus-level resolution. Taxonomically distinct expressions of carbohydrate-active enzymes (transporters; in particular, TonB-dependent transporters) and phosphate acquisition strategies were found, indicating that distinct populations of Bacteroidetes, Gammaproteobacteria, and Alphaproteobacteria are specialized for successive decomposition of algal-derived organic matter. Our results suggest that algal substrate availability provided a series of ecological niches in which specialized populations could bloom. This reveals how planktonic species, despite their seemingly homogeneous habitat, can evade extinction by direct competition.

Interactive network configuration maintains bacterioplankton community structure under elevated CO<sub>2</sub> in a eutrophic coastal mesocosm experiment

“…The results reported here are in line with previous reports about the response of Flavobacteria to ocean acidification in biofilm and single species experiments (Witt et al, 2011;Teira et al, 2012). Flavobacteria are considered as the "first responders" to phytoplankton blooms, because they specialize in attacking algal cells and further degrading biopolymers and organic matter derived from algal detrital particles (Kirchman, 2002;Teeling et al, 2012). Flavobacteria are especially good at converting high-molecular-weight (HMW) DOM to low-molecular-weight (LMW) DOM us-562 X.…”

“…This finding is in line with previous mesocosm experiments and field observations (All-gaier et al, 2008;Teeling et al, 2012). Along with the phytoplankton bloom process, the inter-replicate variation of the bacterioplankton community became more apparent, which was inevitable for an outdoor mesocosm experiment.…”

Climate‐related changes of soil characteristics affect bacterial community composition and function of high altitude and latitude lakes

“…This agrees with previous observations from field (Crump et al ., 2003; Roiha et al ., 2011) and laboratory experiments (Logue et al ., 2016) showing that rapid shifts in community composition take place upon soil organic matter input. The loss and prevalence of the taxa determined in our study may be explained by their different functional adaptability, including differences in resource affinities (Cottrell & Kirchman, 2000; Salcher et al ., 2011; Heinrich et al ., 2013), physiological characteristics (Hahn & Pöckl, 2005; Šimek et al ., 2006) and genetic composition (Bauer et al ., 2006; Gómez‐Pereira et al ., 2012; Teeling et al ., 2012; Tveit et al ., 2013). Further, changes in lake bacterial community composition have been attributed not only to the differential response of individual bacterial taxa to DOM inputs, but also to the introduction of soil bacteria with allochthonous sources or to incubation effects (Crump et al ., 2003; Logue et al ., 2016).…”

Geo-Chip analysis reveals reduced functional diversity of the bacterial community at a dumping site for dredged Elbe sediment

“…Metagenomic approaches, including the applied functional gene array and transcriptomics, represent current high-end technologies, offering new insights into complex microbial networks (Fuhrman, 2009). These technologies facilitate the assessment of complex systems, such as the phycosphere (Teeling et al, 2012), or the description of rare biospheres, such as deep-sea waters (Sogin et al, 2006). Novel insights, such as the detection of a lower functional diversity at a dumping site, deliver valuable information on the function of bacterial communities and might lead to the development of a functional gene array, as observed in recent years Lu et al, 2012).…”