RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Disturbance opens recruitment sites for bacterial colonization
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 014456
DO 10.1101/014456
A1 David C. Vuono
A1 Junko Munakata-Marr
A1 John R. Spear
A1 Jörg E. Drewes
YR 2015
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/01/27/014456.abstract
AB Little is known about the role of immigration in shaping bacterial communities or the factors that may dictate success or failure of colonization by bacteria from regional species pools. To address these knowledge gaps, the influence of bacterial colonization into an ecosystem (activated sludge bioreactor) was measured through a disturbance gradient (successive decreases in the parameter solids retention time) relative to stable operational conditions. Through a DNA sequencing approach, we show that the most abundant bacteria within the immigrant community have a greater probability of colonizing the receiving ecosystem, but mostly as low abundance community members. Only during the disturbance do some of these bacterial populations significantly increase in abundance beyond background levels and few cases become dominant community members post-disturbance. Two mechanisms facilitate the enhanced enrichment of immigrant populations during disturbance: 1) the availability of resources left unconsumed by established species and 2) the increased availability of niche space for colonizers to establish and displace resident populations. Thus, as a disturbance decreases local diversity, recruitment sites become available to promote colonization. This work advances our understanding of microbial resource management and diversity maintenance in complex ecosystems.