Dataset Information

Protist species richness and soil microbiome complexity increase towards climax vegetation in the Brazilian Cerrado.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity underlies ecosystem functioning. While aboveground biodiversity is often well studied, the belowground microbiome, in particular protists, remains largely unknown. Indeed, holistic insights into soil microbiome structures in natural soils, especially in hyperdiverse biomes such as the Brazilian Cerrado, remain unexplored. Here, we study the soil microbiome across four major vegetation zones of the Cerrado, ranging from grass-dominated to tree-dominated vegetation with a focus on protists. We show that protist taxon richness increases towards the tree-dominated climax vegetation. Early successional habitats consisting of primary grass vegetation host most potential plant pathogens and least animal parasites. Using network analyses combining protist with prokaryotic and fungal sequences, we show that microbiome complexity increases towards climax vegetation. Together, this suggests that protists are key microbiome components and that vegetation succession towards climax vegetation is stimulated by higher loads of animal and plant pathogens. At the same time, an increase in microbiome complexity towards climax vegetation might enhance system stability.

SUBMITTER: de Araujo ASF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6127325 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Protist species richness and soil microbiome complexity increase towards climax vegetation in the Brazilian Cerrado.

de Araujo Ademir Sergio Ferreira ASF Mendes Lucas William LW Lemos Leandro Nascimento LN Antunes Jadson Emanuel Lopes JEL Beserra Jose Evando Aguiar JEA de Lyra Maria do Carmo Catanho Pereira MDCCP Figueiredo Marcia do Vale Barreto MDVB Lopes Ângela Celis de Almeida ÂCA Gomes Regina Lucia Ferreira RLF Bezerra Walderly Melgaço WM Melo Vania Maria Maciel VMM de Araujo Fabio Fernando FF Geisen Stefan S

Communications biology 20180906

Biodiversity underlies ecosystem functioning. While aboveground biodiversity is often well studied, the belowground microbiome, in particular protists, remains largely unknown. Indeed, holistic insights into soil microbiome structures in natural soils, especially in hyperdiverse biomes such as the Brazilian Cerrado, remain unexplored. Here, we study the soil microbiome across four major vegetation zones of the Cerrado, ranging from grass-dominated to tree-dominated vegetation with a focus on pro ...[more]

PMID: 30272014

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Dataset Information

Protist species richness and soil microbiome complexity increase towards climax vegetation in the Brazilian Cerrado.

Publications

Protist species richness and soil microbiome complexity increase towards climax vegetation in the Brazilian Cerrado.

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