Habitat specificity modulates the bacterial biogeographic patterns in the Southern Ocean.

ABSTRACT: Conceptual biogeographic frameworks have proposed that the relative contribution of environmental and geographical factors on microbial distribution depends on several characteristics of the habitat (e.g. environmental heterogeneity, species diversity, and proportion of specialist/generalist taxa), all of them defining the degree of habitat specificity, but few experimental demonstrations exist. Here, we aimed to determine the effect of habitat specificity on bacterial biogeographic patterns and assembly processes in benthic coastal ecosystems of the Southern Ocean (Patagonia, Falkland/Malvinas, Kerguelen, South Georgia, and King George Islands), using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding. The gradient of habitat specificity resulted from a 'natural experimental design' provided by the Abatus sea u

SUBMITTER: Delleuze M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11523047 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature