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Dispersal alters soil microbial community response to drought
S E Evans1, L P Bell-Dereske2, K M Dougherty2
1Kellogg Biological Station; Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program, Department of Integrative Biology, 3700 E. Gull Lake Dr. Hickory Corners, MI, 49060, USA.
Environmental Microbiology
|June 8, 2019
Summary
Aerial dispersal significantly impacts soil microbial communities, altering their response to drought and affecting overall diversity and function. Understanding dispersal is crucial for predicting microbial adaptation to climate change.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Microbiology
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Microbial communities face unprecedented climate shifts.
- Dispersal is a key factor in microbial diversity and function.
- Limited understanding exists on how dispersal affects microbial responses to novel climates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally investigate the role of aerial dispersal in soil microbial community responses to drought.
- To determine how excluding or including aerially dispersed microbes influences community composition and function under drought stress.
Main Methods:
- Experimental manipulation of dispersal (filtered vs. unfiltered rain) and drought (25% ambient vs. ambient rainfall) in soil mesocosms over six months.
- Characterization of microbial community composition using 16S and ITS rRNA gene sequencing.
- Assessment of microbial function via community-level physiological profiles.
Main Results:
- Exclusion of dispersal led to lower microbial biomass and metabolic diversity but increased bacterial and fungal species richness.
- Dispersal presence amplified the negative effects of drought on bacterial community composition and induced greater functional loss.
- Neither immigrant nor drought-tolerant taxa showed increased abundance in dispersal treatments.
Conclusions:
- Aerial dispersal rates experimentally alter soil microbial community responses to drought.
- Dispersal influences the resilience and functional stability of soil microbiomes under environmental stress.
- Future climate change predictions for microbial communities must account for altered dispersal dynamics.
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