Dataset Information

Light availability affects stream biofilm bacterial community composition and function, but not diversity.

ABSTRACT: Changes in riparian vegetation or water turbidity and browning in streams alter the local light regime with potential implications for stream biofilms and ecosystem functioning. We experimented with biofilms in microcosms grown under a gradient of light intensities (range: 5-152??mole photons s(-1) ?m(-2) ) and combined 454-pyrosequencing and enzymatic activity assays to evaluate the effects of light on biofilm structure and function. We observed a shift in bacterial community composition along the light gradient, whereas there was no apparent change in alpha diversity. Multifunctionality, based on extracellular enzymes, was highest under high light conditions and decoupled from bacterial diversity. Phenol oxidase activity, involved in the degradation of polyphenolic compounds, was twice as high on average under the lowest compared with the highest light condition. This suggests a shift in reliance of microbial heterotrophs on biofilm phototroph-derived organic matter under high light availability to more complex organic matter under low light. Furthermore, extracellular enzyme activities correlated with nutrient cycling and community respiration, supporting the link between biofilm structure-function and biogeochemical fluxes in streams. Our findings demonstrate that changes in light availability are likely to have significant impacts on biofilm structure and function, potentially affecting stream ecosystem processes.

SUBMITTER: Wagner K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4950016 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Light availability affects stream biofilm bacterial community composition and function, but not diversity.

Wagner Karoline K Besemer Katharina K Burns Nancy R NR Battin Tom J TJ Bengtsson Mia M MM

Environmental microbiology 20150722 12

Changes in riparian vegetation or water turbidity and browning in streams alter the local light regime with potential implications for stream biofilms and ecosystem functioning. We experimented with biofilms in microcosms grown under a gradient of light intensities (range: 5-152 μmole photons s(-1) m(-2) ) and combined 454-pyrosequencing and enzymatic activity assays to evaluate the effects of light on biofilm structure and function. We observed a shift in bacterial community composition along ...[more]

PMID: 26013911

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Project description:Urbanization strongly influences headwater stream chemistry and hydrology, but little is known about how these conditions impact bacterial community composition. We predicted that urbanization would impact bacterial community composition, but that stream water column bacterial communities would be most strongly linked to urbanization at a watershed-scale, as measured by impervious cover, while sediment bacterial communities would correlate with environmental conditions at the scale of stream reaches. To test this hypothesis, we determined bacterial community composition in the water column and sediment of headwater streams located across a gradient of watershed impervious cover using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Alpha diversity metrics did not show a strong response to catchment urbanization, but beta diversity was significantly related to watershed impervious cover with significant differences also found between water column and sediment samples. Samples grouped primarily according to habitat-water column vs. sediment-with a significant response to watershed impervious cover nested within each habitat type. Compositional shifts for communities in urbanized streams indicated an increase in taxa associated with human activity including bacteria from the genus Polynucleobacter, which is widespread, but has been associated with eutrophic conditions in larger water bodies. Another indicator of communities in urbanized streams was an OTU from the genus Gallionella, which is linked to corrosion of water distribution systems. To identify changes in bacterial community interactions, bacterial co-occurrence networks were generated from urban and forested samples. The urbanized co-occurrence network was much smaller and had fewer co-occurrence events per taxon than forested equivalents, indicating a loss of keystone taxa with urbanization. Our results suggest that urbanization has significant impacts on the community composition of headwater streams, and suggest that processes driving these changes in urbanized water column vs. sediment environments are distinct.

Dataset Information

Light availability affects stream biofilm bacterial community composition and function, but not diversity.

Publications

Light availability affects stream biofilm bacterial community composition and function, but not diversity.

Similar Datasets

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