Biogeographic congruency among bacterial communities from terrestrial sulfidic springs.

ABSTRACT: Terrestrial sulfidic springs support diverse microbial communities by serving as stable conduits for geochemically diverse and nutrient-rich subsurface waters. Microorganisms that colonize terrestrial springs likely originate from groundwater, but may also be sourced from the surface. As such, the biogeographic distribution of microbial communities inhabiting sulfidic springs should be controlled by a combination of spring geochemistry and surface and subsurface transport mechanisms, and not necessarily geographic proximity to other springs. We examined the bacterial diversity of seven springs to test the hypothesis that occurrence of taxonomically similar microbes, important to the sulfur cycle, at each spring is controlled by geochemistry. Complementary Sanger sequencing and 454 pyrosequ

SUBMITTER: Headd B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4157610 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature