Journal
ISME JOURNAL
Volume 5, Issue 4, Pages 750-758Publisher
SPRINGERNATURE
DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2010.163
Keywords
biodiversity; stability; methane oxidation; pmoA; disturbance; population dynamics
Categories
Funding
- International Max Planck Research School for Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Biodiversity is claimed to be essential for ecosystem functioning, but is threatened by anthropogenic disturbances. Prokaryotes have been assumed to be functionally redundant and virtually inextinguishable. However, recent work indicates that microbes may well be sensitive to environmental disturbance. Focusing on methane-oxidizing bacteria as model organisms, we simulated disturbance-induced mortality by mixing native with sterilized paddy soil in two ratios, 1: 4 and 1: 40, representing moderate and severe die-offs. Disturbed microcosms were compared with an untreated control. Recovery of activity and populations was followed over 4 months by methane uptake measurements, pmoA-qPCR, pmoA-based terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and a pmoA-based diagnostic microarray. Diversity and evenness of methanotrophs decreased in disturbed microcosms, but functioning was not compromised. We consistently observed distinctive temporal shifts between type I and type II methanotrophs, and a rapid population growth leading to even higher cell numbers comparing disturbed microcosms with the control. Overcompensating mortality suggested that population size in the control was limited by competition with other bacteria. Overall, methanotrophs showed a remarkable ability to compensate for die-offs. The ISME Journal (2011) 5, 750-758; doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.163; published online 28 October 2010
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available