Biodiversity acts as insurance of productivity of bacterial communities under abiotic perturbations.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic disturbances are detrimental to the functioning and stability of natural ecosystems. Critical ecosystem processes driven by microbial communities are subjected to these disturbances. Here, we examine the stabilizing role of bacterial diversity on community biomass in the presence of abiotic perturbations such as addition of heavy metals, NaCl and warming. Bacterial communities with a diversity gradient of 1-12 species were subjected to the different treatments, and community biomass (OD600) was measured after 24 h. We found that initial species richness and phylogenetic structure impact the biomass of communities. Under abiotic perturbations, the presence of tolerant species in community largely contributed in community biomass production. Bacterial diversity stabilized the b

SUBMITTER: Awasthi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4260711 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature