Journal
GEOMICROBIOLOGY JOURNAL
Volume 31, Issue 3, Pages 205-220Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1080/01490451.2013.777491
Keywords
Azores; Hawai'i; lava cave; microbial communities
Funding
- Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) [PTDC/AMB/70801/2006]
- Undergraduate Opportunities Program, Museum of Southwestern Biology [NSF-DEB 0731350]
- Cave Conservancy of the Virginias
- Graduate Research Allocation Committee at UNM Biology
- UNM Biology Grove Scholarship
- Student Research Allocation Committee at UNM
- National Speleological Society
- New Mexico Space Grant Consortium
- New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation Program
- New Mexico Geological Society
- Kenneth Ingham Consulting
- UNM Molecular Biology Facility
- NIH [P20GM103452]
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES [P30GM110907] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Worldwide, lava caves host colorful microbial mats. However, little is known about the diversity of these microorganisms, or what role they may play in the subsurface ecosystem. White and yellow microbial mats were collected from four lava caves each on the Azorean island of Terceira and the Big Island of Hawai'i, to compare the bacterial diversity found in lava caves from two widely separated archipelagos in two different oceans at different latitudes. Scanning electron microscopy of mat samples showed striking similarities between Terceira and Hawai'ian microbial morphologies. 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were constructed to determine the diversity within these lava caves. Fifteen bacterial phyla were found across the samples, with more Actinobacteria clones in Hawai'ian communities and greater numbers of Acidobacteria clones in Terceira communities. Bacterial diversity in the subsurface was correlated with a set of factors. Geographical location was the major contributor to differences in community composition (at the OTU level), together with differences in the amounts of organic carbon, nitrogen and copper available in the lava rock that forms the cave. These results reveal, for the first time, the similarity among the extensive bacterial diversity found in lava caves in two geographically separate locations and contribute to the current debate on the nature of microbial biogeography.
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