02435nas a2200277 4500008004100000245011000041210006900151260001200220300000700232490000700239520155100246653001501797653002601812653002401838653001301862653003001875100001901905700002401924700002101948700002401969700002101993700002302014700002202037700003302059856006502092 2022 eng d00aLimits to the three domains of life: Lessons from community assembly along an Antarctic salinity gradient0 aLimits to the three domains of life Lessons from community assem c04/2022 a150 v263 a

Extremophiles exist among all three domains of life; however, physiological mechanisms for surviving harsh environmental conditions differ among Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Consequently, we expect that domain-specific variation of diversity and community assembly patterns exist along environmental gradients in extreme environments. We investigated inter-domain community compositional differences along a high-elevation salinity gradient in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Conductivity for 24 soil samples collected along the gradient ranged widely from 50 to 8355 µS cm-1. Taxonomic richness varied among domains, with a total of 359 bacterial, 2 archaeal, 56 fungal, and 69 non-fungal eukaryotic operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Richness for bacteria, archaea, fungi, and non-fungal eukaryotes declined with increasing conductivity (all P < 0.05). Principal coordinate ordination analysis (PCoA) revealed significant (ANOSIM R = 0.97) groupings of low/high salinity bacterial OTUs, while OTUs from other domains were not significantly clustered. Bacterial beta diversity was unimodally distributed along the gradient and had a nested structure driven by species losses, whereas in fungi and non-fungal eukaryotes beta diversity declined monotonically without strong evidence of nestedness. Thus, while increased salinity acts as a stressor in all domains, the mechanisms driving community assembly along the gradient differ substantially between the domains.

10aAntarctica10ainter-domain response10aMcMurdo Dry Valleys10asalinity10aspecies richness patterns1 aJiang, Xiaoben1 aVan Horn, David, J.1 aOkie, Jordan, G.1 aBuelow, Heather, N.1 aSchwartz, Egbert1 aColman, Daniel, R.1 aFeeser, Kelli, L.1 aTakacs-Vesbach, Cristina, D. uhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00792-022-01262-302931nas a2200205 4500008004100000245011300041210006900154260001200223490000600235520222200241100002202463700002402485700002402509700002302533700002402556700002102580700002102601700003302622856007002655 2018 eng d00aLocal and Regional Scale Heterogeneity Drive Bacterial Community Diversity and Composition in a Polar Desert0 aLocal and Regional Scale Heterogeneity Drive Bacterial Community c08/20180 v93 a

The distribution of organisms in an environment is neither uniform nor random but is instead spatially patterned. The factors that control this patterning are complex and the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Soil microbes are critical to ecosystem function but exhibit highly complex distributions and community dynamics due in large part to the scale-dependent effects of environmental heterogeneity. To better understand the impact of environmental heterogeneity on the distribution of soil microbes, we sequenced the 16S rRNA gene from bacterial communities in the microbe-dominated polar desert ecosystem of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica. Significant differences in key edaphic variables and alpha diversity were observed among the three lake basins of the Taylor Valley (Kruskal–Wallis; pH: χ2 = 68.89, P < 0.001, conductivity: χ2 = 35.03, P < 0.001, observed species: χ2 = 7.98, P = 0.019 and inverse Simpson: χ2 = 18.52, P < 0.001) and each basin supported distinctive microbial communities (ANOSIM R = 0.466, P = 0.001, random forest ratio of 14.1). However, relationships between community structure and edaphic characteristics were highly variable and contextual, ranging in magnitude and direction across regional, basin, and local scales. Correlations among edaphic factors (pH and soil conductivity) and the relative abundance of specific phyla were most pronounced along local environmental gradients in the Lake Fryxell basin where Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria declined while Deinococcus–Thermus and Gemmatimonadetes increased with soil conductivity (all P < 0.1). Species richness was most strongly related to the soil conductivity gradient present within this study system. We suggest that the relative importance of pH versus soil conductivity in structuring microbial communities is related to the length of edaphic gradients and the spatial scale of sampling. These results highlight the importance of conducting studies over large ranges of key environmental gradients and across multiple spatial scales to assess the influence of environmental heterogeneity on the composition and diversity of microbial communities.

1 aFeeser, Kelli, L.1 aVan Horn, David, J.1 aBuelow, Heather, N.1 aColman, Daniel, R.1 aMcHugh, Theresa, A.1 aOkie, Jordan, G.1 aSchwartz, Egbert1 aTakacs-Vesbach, Cristina, D. uhttps://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01928/full02696nas a2200217 4500008004100000022001400041245013900055210006900194260001200263300000900275490000800284520194700292100002102239700002402260700001802284700002202302700002502324700001902349700003302368856007702401 2015 eng d a0962-845200aNiche and metabolic principles explain patterns of diversity and distribution: theory and a case study with soil bacterial communities0 aNiche and metabolic principles explain patterns of diversity and c05/2015 a26300 v2823 a

The causes of biodiversity patterns are controversial and elusive due to complex environmental variation, covarying changes in communities, and lack of baseline and null theories to differentiate straightforward causes from more complex mechanisms. To address these limitations, we developed general diversity theory integrating metabolic principles with niche-based community assembly. We evaluated this theory by investigating patterns in the diversity and distribution of soil bacteria taxa across four orders of magnitude variation in spatial scale on an Antarctic mountainside in low complexity, highly oligotrophic soils. Our theory predicts that lower temperatures should reduce taxon niche widths along environmental gradients due to decreasing growth rates, and the changing niche widths should lead to contrasting α- and β-diversity patterns. In accord with the predictions, α-diversity, niche widths and occupancies decreased while β-diversity increased with increasing elevation and decreasing temperature. The theory also successfully predicts a hump-shaped relationship between α-diversity and pH and a negative relationship between α-diversity and salinity. Thus, a few simple principles explained systematic microbial diversity variation along multiple gradients. Such general theory can be used to disentangle baseline effects from more complex effects of temperature and other variables on biodiversity patterns in a variety of ecosystems and organisms.

 

 

1 aOkie, Jordan, G.1 aVan Horn, David, J.1 aStorch, David1 aBarrett, John, E.1 aGooseff, Michael, N.1 aKopsova, Lenka1 aTakacs-Vesbach, Cristina, D. uhttp://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2014.2630