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Historical Contingency Drives Freshwater Microbial Community Assembly Across Successional Time.

Fenguo Zhang1, Xiaoting Zhang1, Dongqing Yan1

  • 1College of Life Science, Shanxi Engineering Research Center of Microbial Application Technologies Shanxi Normal University Taiyuan Shanxi China.

Ecology and Evolution
|June 11, 2026
PubMed
Summary

Freshwater microbial communities shift from dispersal limitation to historical contingency over time. Historical factors, like priority effects, ultimately dominate community assembly, showing strong path dependency.

Keywords:
community assemblydispersal limitationenvironmental selectionhistorical contingencypriority effects

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Microbiology
  • Environmental Science

Background:

  • Microbial community assembly is complex, influenced by historical contingency, environmental selection, and dispersal.
  • Understanding the interplay and temporal dynamics of these drivers is crucial, especially in freshwater ecosystems.
  • Previous research often isolated these factors, limiting predictive power for microbial community trajectories.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relative importance and temporal dynamics of historical contingency, environmental selection, and dispersal in freshwater microbial community assembly.
  • To determine how these drivers influence community structure at different successional stages.
  • To predict microbial community trajectories under varying environmental and dispersal conditions.

Main Methods:

  • A 60-day full-factorial reciprocal transplant microcosm experiment was conducted.
  • Freshwater bacterial communities were manipulated for historical source, environmental media, and immigration intensity.
  • Bacterial community dynamics were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing at early (day 13) and late (day 60) stages.

Main Results:

  • Dispersal limitation significantly impacted early community assembly, with higher immigration increasing diversity and altering composition.
  • The influence of dispersal decreased over time, suggesting a transition to dispersal saturation.
  • Historical contingency became the dominant driver of community composition by the late successional stage, surpassing environmental selection.
  • Communities from the same historical source exhibited distinct assembly trajectories irrespective of environment or immigration.

Conclusions:

  • Freshwater microbial community assembly exhibits a time-dependent shift from early dispersal limitation to late-stage historical contingency.
  • Priority effects, driven by historical contingency, play a critical and lasting role in shaping microbial community structure.
  • Community assembly is a dynamic process where historical factors lead to strong path dependency, influencing long-term community trajectories.