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Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology
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Published on: November 5, 2014

Microbial composition affects the functioning of estuarine sediments.

Heather E Reed1, Jennifer B H Martiny

  • 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.

The ISME Journal
|December 14, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Microbial composition directly impacts ecosystem functions. This study used reciprocal sediment transplants to show that microbial communities influence sediment processes like CO2 production and enzyme activity in natural settings.

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Area of Science:

  • Environmental microbiology
  • Ecosystem ecology
  • Microbial ecology

Background:

  • Microorganisms are key drivers of ecosystem processes, but the link between microbial composition and function is not fully understood.
  • Manipulating microbial communities in situ is crucial for distinguishing composition from environmental effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if variations in microbial composition affect functional processes in a field setting.
  • To disentangle the roles of microbial community structure and environmental conditions on ecosystem functioning.

Main Methods:

  • Reciprocal transplantation of riverbed sediments between low- and high-salinity sites using microbial cages.
  • Short-term (1 week) and long-term (7 weeks) experiments.
  • Assessing bacterial and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) composition via 16S rDNA and dsrAB gene analysis using T-RFLP.
  • Measuring sediment functional processes including CO2 production, CH4 flux, nitrification, and enzyme activities.

Main Results:

  • In the short-term, sediment processes were influenced by both sediment origin (microbial composition) and the surrounding environment.
  • In the long-term, bacterial composition shifted with the environment, correlating significantly with sediment functioning.
  • The influence of sediment origin on processes decreased over time, while environmental adaptation and its link to function became more apparent.

Conclusions:

  • Microbial composition directly influences ecosystem functional processes in riverbed sediments.
  • Environmental conditions drive shifts in microbial communities, which in turn alter ecosystem functions.
  • This study provides direct field evidence for the causal link between microbial community structure and ecosystem functioning.