scholarly journals Accuracy of mutual predictions of plant and microbe communities varies along a successional gradient in an alpine glacier forefield

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xie He ◽  
Maximilian Hanusch ◽  
Victoria Ruiz-Hernández ◽  
Robert R. Junker
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
List Type ◽  
Alpine Glacier ◽  
Glacier Forefield ◽  
Successional Gradient ◽  
Direct Indication ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

SummaryDue to climate warming, recently deglaciated glacier forefields create virtually uninhabited substrates waiting for initial colonization of bacteria, fungi and plants and serve as an ideal ecosystem for studying transformations in community composition and diversity over time and the interactions between taxonomic groups.In this study, we investigated the composition and diversity of bacteria, and fungi, plants and environmental factors (pH, temperature, plot age and soil nutrients) along a 1.5km glacier forefield. We used random forest analysis to detect how well the composition and diversity of taxonomic groups and environmental factors can be mutually predicted.Community composition and diversity of taxonomic groups predicted each other more accurately than environmental factors predicted the taxonomic groups; within the taxonomic groups bacteria and fungi predicted each other best and the taxa’s composition was better predicted than diversity indices. Additionally, accuracy of prediction among taxonomic groups and environmental factors considerably varied along the successional gradient.Although our results are no direct indication of interactions between the taxa investigated and the environmental conditions, the accurate predictions among bacteria, fungi, and plants do provide insights into the concerted community assembly of different taxa in response to changing environments along a successional gradient.

scholarly journals Individual-based multiple-unit dissimilarity: novel indices for assessing temporal variability in community composition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryosuke Nakadai
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Barro Colorado Island ◽  
Forest Monitoring ◽  
List Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Multiple Unit ◽  
Temporal Beta Diversity

AbstractBeta-diversity was originally defined spatially, i.e., as variation in community composition among sites in a region. However, the concept of beta-diversity has since been expanded to temporal contexts. This is referred to as “temporal beta-diversity”, and most approaches are simply an extension of spatial beta-diversity.The persistence and turnover of individuals over time is a unique feature of temporal beta-diversity. Nakadai (2020) introduced the “individual-based beta-diversity” concept, and provided novel indices to evaluate individual turnover and compositional shift by comparing individual turnover between two periods at a given site. However, the proposed individual-based indices are applicable only to pairwise dissimilarity, not to multiple-temporal (or more generally, multiple-unit) dissimilarity.Here, individual-based beta-diversity indices are extended to multiple-unit cases.To demonstrate the usage the properties of these indices compared to average pairwise measures, I applied them to a dataset for a permanent 50-ha forest dynamics plot on Barro Colorado Island in Panama.Information regarding “individuals” is generally missing from community ecology and biodiversity studies of temporal dynamics. In this context, the method proposed here is expected to be useful for addressing a wide range of research questions regarding temporal changes in biodiversity, especially studies using individual-tracked forest monitoring data.

scholarly journals Ödenwinkel: an Alpine platform for observational and experimental research on the emergence of multidiversity and ecosystem complexity

Web Ecology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-106
Author(s):  
Robert R. Junker ◽  
Maximilian Hanusch ◽  
Xie He ◽  
Victoria Ruiz-Hernández ◽  
Jan-Christoph Otto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Research ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Research Platform ◽  
Successional Gradient ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

Abstract. Studies on ecological successions have a long tradition and have strongly contributed to the understanding of community assembly, niche theory, and ecosystem structure and functionality. Reports on ecological successions are however mostly restricted to one or two taxonomic groups, neglecting the mutual influences and dependencies between multiple taxonomic groups that are the building blocks of diverse communities. We introduce the Alpine research platform Ödenwinkel to promote observational and experimental research on the emergence of multidiversity and ecosystem complexity. We established n= 140 permanent plots along the successional gradient of the forefield of the Ödenwinkelkees glacier at the end of the Stubachtal valley in the Hohe Tauern range (Hohe Tauern National Park, Land Salzburg, Austria). In summer 2019 we completed a first full inventory of biotic and abiotic characteristics of these plots covering the diversity and composition of vascular plants, bryophytes, arthropods, and other animals, bacteria and fungi as well as some geomorphologic properties. In this paper we introduce the design of the research platform and show first results. While focusing on the diversity and composition of vascular plants along the successional gradient, we also provide data on the diversity of animals, bacteria, and fungi. The Ödenwinkel platform will be available as a long-term ecological research site where researchers from various disciplines can contribute to the accumulation of knowledge on ecological successions and on how interactions between various taxonomic groups structure ecological complexity in this Alpine environment.

scholarly journals Contrasting responses of protistan plant parasites and phagotrophs to ecosystems, land management and soil properties

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Fiore-Donno ◽  
Tim Richter-Heitmann ◽  
Michael Bonkowski
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
List Type ◽  
Land Use Management ◽  
Plant Parasites

AbstractFunctional traits are increasingly used in ecology to link the structure of microbial communities to ecosystem processes. We investigated two important protistan lineages, Cercozoa and Endomyxa (Rhizaria) in soil using Illumina sequencing and analysed their diversity and functional traits along with their responses to environmental factors in grassland and forest across Germany. From 600 soil samples, we obtained 2,101 Operational Taxonomy Units representing ~18 million Illumina reads (region V4, 18S rRNA gene). All major taxonomic and functional groups were present, dominated by small bacterivorous flagellates (Glissomonadida). Endomyxan plant parasites were absent from forest. In grassland, they were promoted by more intensive land use management. Grassland and forest strikingly differed in community composition. Relative abundances of bacterivores and eukaryvores were contrastingly influenced by environmental factors, indicating bottom-up regulation by food resources. These patterns provide new insights into the functional organization of soil biota and indications for a more sustainable land-use management.HighlightsProtistan plant parasites of worldwide importance (Phytomyxea) are absent from forestProtistan plant parasites are enhanced by land use intensification in grasslandOpposite responses of protistan trophic guilds to environmental conditions in forestDrastic differences in protistan community composition between grassland and forest

scholarly journals Are Bacterio- and Phytoplankton Community Compositions Related in Lakes Differing in Their Cyanobacteria Contribution and Physico-Chemical Properties?

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 855
Author(s):  
Mikołaj Kokociński ◽  
Dariusz Dziga ◽  
Adam Antosiak ◽  
Janne Soininen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Phytoplankton Community ◽  
Heterotrophic Bacteria ◽  
Bacterial Community Composition ◽  
Physical Factors ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Phytoplankton Community Composition ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Bacteria Communities

Bacterioplankton community composition has become the center of research attention in recent years. Bacteria associated with toxic cyanobacteria blooms have attracted considerable interest. However, little is known about the environmental factors driving the bacteria community, including the impact of invasive cyanobacteria. Therefore, our aim has been to determine the relationships between heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton community composition across 24 Polish lakes with different contributions of cyanobacteria including the invasive species Raphidiopsis raciborskii. This analysis revealed that cyanobacteria were present in 16 lakes, while R. raciborskii occurred in 14 lakes. Our results show that bacteria communities differed between lakes dominated by cyanobacteria and lakes with minor contributions of cyanobacteria but did not differ between lakes with R. raciborskii and other lakes. Physical factors, including water and Secchi depth, were the major drivers of bacteria and phytoplankton community composition. However, in lakes dominated by cyanobacteria, bacterial community composition was also influenced by biotic factors such as the amount of R. raciborskii, chlorophyll-a and total phytoplankton biomass. Thus, our study provides novel evidence on the influence of environmental factors and R. raciborskii on lake bacteria communities.

scholarly journals Habitat Elevation Shapes Microbial Community Composition and Alter the Metabolic Functions in Wild Sable (Martes zibellina) Guts

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 865
Author(s):  
Lantian Su ◽  
Xinxin Liu ◽  
Guangyao Jin ◽  
Yue Ma ◽  
Haoxin Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
16S Rrna Genes ◽  
Rrna Genes ◽  
Functional Genes ◽  
Martes Zibellina ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
Metabolic Functions

In recent decades, wild sable (Carnivora Mustelidae Martes zibellina) habitats, which are often natural forests, have been squeezed by anthropogenic disturbances such as clear-cutting, tilling and grazing. Sables tend to live in sloped areas with relatively harsh conditions. Here, we determine effects of environmental factors on wild sable gut microbial communities between high and low altitude habitats using Illumina Miseq sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. Our results showed that despite wild sable gut microbial community diversity being resilient to many environmental factors, community composition was sensitive to altitude. Wild sable gut microbial communities were dominated by Firmicutes (relative abundance 38.23%), followed by Actinobacteria (30.29%), and Proteobacteria (28.15%). Altitude was negatively correlated with the abundance of Firmicutes, suggesting sable likely consume more vegetarian food in lower habitats where plant diversity, temperature and vegetation coverage were greater. In addition, our functional genes prediction and qPCR results demonstrated that energy/fat processing microorganisms and functional genes are enriched with increasing altitude, which likely enhanced metabolic functions and supported wild sables to survive in elevated habitats. Overall, our results improve the knowledge of the ecological impact of habitat change, providing insights into wild animal protection at the mountain area with hash climate conditions.

scholarly journals Abundance, diversity and distribution of macrophyte communities in neighboring lakes of different trophic states and morphology in north-central Greece

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 763-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrisoula Pirini ◽  
Vasiliki Karagiannakidou ◽  
Savvas Charitonidis
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Aquatic Vegetation ◽  
Floristic Composition ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
North Central ◽  
Wetland Ecosystems ◽  
Central Greece ◽  
Clear Differentiation ◽  
Evenness Indices

The role of aquatic vegetation in wetland ecosystems is closely related with their abundance, diversity and distribution, which in turn represents synergy of various environmental factors. The floristic composition of the aquatic vegetation in two neighboring lakes (Vegoritida and Petron) in north-central Greece was investigated by means of 160 relev?s, which were recorded using the Braun-Blanquet method. The analysis of relev?s based on TWINSPAN clustering showed the existence of 10 plant communities from the Lemnetea, Potametea, Phragmito-Magnocaricetea and Juncetea maritimi classes. The most important environmental factors for the vegetation differentiation in the study area, according to the ordination diagram, are light intensity and water depth of the habitats. The plant species diversity was quantified with species richness, Shannon Diversity and evenness indices at a scale of each relev?, with a sampling size of 20 m2. There was a clear differentiation between the relev?s at the more eutrophic Petron Lake and those at Vegoritida Lake. The mean plot diversity was also calculated for each plant community, to enable comparison of the diversity indices among the communities at the plot level.

scholarly journals Plankton Community Composition Related to Marine Environmental Factors in Haengam Bay

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2015-2028
Author(s):  
Jeong Bae Kim ◽  
Sokjin Hong ◽  
Won-Chan Lee ◽  
Hyung Chul Kim ◽  
Yong-Woo Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Plankton Community ◽  
Marine Environmental

scholarly journals Towards a function-first framework to make soil microbial ecology predictive

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Rousk ◽  
Lettice Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Functional Response ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Bacterial Growth ◽  
Response Curve ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Soil Microbial

<p>Soil microbial communities perform vital ecosystem functions, such as the decomposition of organic matter to provide plant nutrition. However, despite the functional importance of soil microorganisms, attribution of ecosystem function to particular constituents of the microbial community has been impeded by a lack of information linking microbial function to community composition and structure. Here, we propose a function-first framework to predict how microbial communities influence ecosystem functions.</p><p>We first view the microbial community associated with a specific function as a whole, and describe the dependence of microbial functions on environmental factors (e.g. the intrinsic temperature dependence of bacterial growth rates). This step defines the aggregate functional response curve of the community. Second, the contribution of the whole community to ecosystem function can be predicted, by combining the functional response curve with current environmental conditions. Functional response curves can then be linked with taxonomic data in order to identify sets of “biomarker” taxa that signal how microbial communities regulate ecosystem functions. Ultimately, such indicator taxa may be used as a diagnostic tool, enabling predictions of ecosystem function from community composition.</p><p>In this presentation, we provide three examples to illustrate the proposed framework, whereby the dependence of bacterial growth on environmental factors, including temperature, pH and salinity, is defined as the functional response curve used to interlink soil bacterial community structure and function. Applying this framework will make it possible to predict ecosystem functions directly from microbial community composition.</p>

scholarly journals The impact of temperature and absolute humidity on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak - evidence from China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Shi ◽  
Yinqiao Dong ◽  
Huanchang Yan ◽  
Xiaoyang Li ◽  
Chenkai Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Weather Condition ◽  
Absolute Humidity ◽  
List Type ◽  
Seir Model ◽  
Provincial Level ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVETo investigate the impact of temperature and absolute humidity on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.DESIGNEcological study.SETTING31 provincial-level regions in mainland China.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURESData on COVID-19 incidence and climate between Jan 20 and Feb 29, 2020.RESULTSThe number of new confirm COVID-19 cases in mainland China peaked on Feb 1, 2020. COVID-19 daily incidence were lowest at -10 °C and highest at 10 °C, while the maximum incidence was observed at the absolute humidity of approximately 7 g/m3. COVID-19 incidence changed with temperature as daily incidence decreased when the temperature rose. No significant association between COVID-19 incidence and absolute humidity was observed in distributed lag nonlinear models. Additionally, A modified susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (M-SEIR) model confirmed that transmission rate decreased with the increase of temperature, leading to further decrease of infection rate and outbreak scale.CONCLUSIONTemperature is an environmental driver of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Lower and higher temperatures might be positive to decrease the COVID-19 incidence. M-SEIR models help to better evaluate environmental and social impacts on COVID-19.What is already known on this topicMany infectious diseases present an environmental pattern in their incidence.Environmental factors, such as climate and weather condition, could drive the space and time correlations of infectious diseases, including influenza.Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be transmitted through aerosols, large droplets, or direct contact with secretions (or fomites) as influenza virus can.Little is known about environmental pattern in COVID-19 incidence.What this study addsThe significant association between COVID-19 daily incidence and temperature was confirmed, using 3 methods, based on the data on COVID-19 and weather from 31 provincial-level regions in mainland China.Environmental factors were considered on the basis of SEIR model, and a modified susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (M-SEIR) model was developed.Simulations of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan presented similar effects of temperature on incidence as the incidence decrease with the increase of temperature.

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