Journal article
Bacterial Diversity in Replicated Hydrogen Sulfide-Rich Streams
Microbial ecology, Vol.77(3), pp.559-573
04/2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/110633
PMID: 30105506
Abstract
Extreme environments typically require costly adaptations for survival, an attribute that often translates to an elevated influence of habitat conditions on biotic communities. Microbes, primarily bacteria, are successful colonizers of extreme environments worldwide, yet in many instances, the interplay between harsh conditions, dispersal, and microbial biogeography remains unclear. This lack of clarity is particularly true for habitats where extreme temperature is not the overarching stressor, highlighting a need for studies that focus on the role other primary stressors (e.g., toxicants) play in shaping biogeographic patterns. In this study, we leveraged a naturally paired stream system in southern Mexico to explore how elevated hydrogen sulfide (H
S) influences microbial diversity. We sequenced a portion of the 16S rRNA gene using bacterial primers for water sampled from three geographically proximate pairings of streams with high (> 20 μM) or low (~ 0 μM) H
S concentrations. After exploring bacterial diversity within and among sites, we compared our results to a previous study of macroinvertebrates and fish for the same sites. By spanning multiple organismal groups, we were able to illuminate how H
S may differentially affect biodiversity. The presence of elevated H
S had no effect on overall bacterial diversity (p = 0.21), a large effect on community composition (25.8% of variation explained, p < 0.0001), and variable influence depending upon the group-whether fish, macroinvertebrates, or bacteria-being considered. For bacterial diversity, we recovered nine abundant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that comprised a core H
S-rich stream microbiome in the region. Many H
S-associated OTUs were members of the Epsilonproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria, which both have been implicated in endosymbiotic relationships between sulfur-oxidizing bacteria and eukaryotes, suggesting the potential for symbioses that remain to be discovered in these habitats.
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Details
- Title
- Bacterial Diversity in Replicated Hydrogen Sulfide-Rich Streams
- Creators
- Scott Hotaling - School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USACorey R Quackenbush - School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USAJulian Bennett-Ponsford - School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USADaniel D New - Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies (IBEST), University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USALenin Arias-Rodriguez - División Académica de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Villahermosa, Tabasco, MexicoMichael Tobler - Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USAJoanna L Kelley - School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA. joanna.l.kelley@wsu.edu
- Publication Details
- Microbial ecology, Vol.77(3), pp.559-573
- Academic Unit
- Biological Sciences, School of
- Publisher
- United States
- Grant note
- IOS-1557795 / National Science Foundation W911NF-15-1-0175 / United States Army Research Office IOS-1557860 / National Science Foundation
- Identifiers
- 99900547134601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article