Dataset Information

The more, the merrier: heterotroph richness stimulates methanotrophic activity.

ABSTRACT: Although microorganisms coexist in the same environment, it is still unclear how their interaction regulates ecosystem functioning. Using a methanotroph as a model microorganism, we determined how methane oxidation responds to heterotroph diversity. Artificial communities comprising of a methanotroph and increasing heterotroph richness, while holding equal starting cell numbers were assembled. We considered methane oxidation rate as a functional response variable. Our results showed a significant increase of methane oxidation with increasing heterotroph richness, suggesting a complex interaction in the cocultures leading to a stimulation of methanotrophic activity. Therefore, not only is the methanotroph diversity directly correlated to methanotrophic activity for some methanotroph groups as shown before, but also the richness of heterotroph interacting partners is relevant to enhance methane oxidation too. In this unprecedented study, we provide direct evidence showing how heterotroph richness exerts a response in methanotroph-heterotroph interaction, resulting in increased methanotrophic activity. Our study has broad implications in how methanotroph and heterotroph interact to regulate methane oxidation, and is particularly relevant in methane-driven ecosystems.

SUBMITTER: Ho A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4139733 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The more, the merrier: heterotroph richness stimulates methanotrophic activity.

Ho Adrian A de Roy Karen K Thas Olivier O De Neve Jan J Hoefman Sven S Vandamme Peter P Heylen Kim K Boon Nico N

The ISME journal 20140502 9

Although microorganisms coexist in the same environment, it is still unclear how their interaction regulates ecosystem functioning. Using a methanotroph as a model microorganism, we determined how methane oxidation responds to heterotroph diversity. Artificial communities comprising of a methanotroph and increasing heterotroph richness, while holding equal starting cell numbers were assembled. We considered methane oxidation rate as a functional response variable. Our results showed a significan ...[more]

PMID: 24785289

Similar Datasets

Project description:Aggregation can confer advantages in animal foraging, defense, and thermoregulation. There is a tight connection between the evolution of insect sociality and a highly effective immune system, presumably to inhibit rapid disease spread in a crowded environment. This connection is less evident for animals that spend only part of their life cycle in a social environment, such as noneusocial gregarious insects. Our aim was to elucidate the effects of group living by the gregarious larvae of the Glanville fritillary butterfly with respect to individual performance, immunity, and susceptibility to a parasitoid. We were also interested in the role of family relative to common postdiapause environment in shaping life-history traits. Larvae were reared at high or low density and then exposed to the pupal parasitoid wasp Pteromalus apum, either in presence or absence of a previous immune challenge that was used to measure the encapsulation immune response. Surviving adult butterflies were further tested for immunity. The wasp offspring from successfully parasitized butterfly pupae were counted and their brood sex ratios assessed. Larvae reared at high density grew larger and faster than those at low density. Despite high mortality due to parasitism, survival was greater among individuals with high pupal immunity in both density treatments. Moreover, butterfly pupae reared at high density were able to kill a larger fraction of individuals in the parasitoid broods, although this did not increase survival of the host. Finally, a larger proportion of variation observed in most of the traits was explained by butterfly family than by common postdiapause rearing environment, except for adult survival and immunity, for which this pattern was reversed. This gregarious butterfly clearly benefits from high conspecific density in terms of developmental performance and its ability to fight a parasitoid. These positive effects may be driven by cooperative interactions during feeding.

Dataset Information

The more, the merrier: heterotroph richness stimulates methanotrophic activity.

Publications

The more, the merrier: heterotroph richness stimulates methanotrophic activity.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets