Microbial interactions lead to rapid micro-scale successions on model marine particles.

ABSTRACT: In the ocean, organic particles harbour diverse bacterial communities, which collectively digest and recycle essential nutrients. Traits like motility and exo-enzyme production allow individual taxa to colonize and exploit particle resources, but it remains unclear how community dynamics emerge from these individual traits. Here we track the taxon and trait dynamics of bacteria attached to model marine particles and demonstrate that particle-attached communities undergo rapid, reproducible successions driven by ecological interactions. Motile, particle-degrading taxa are selected for during early successional stages. However, this selective pressure is later relaxed when secondary consumers invade, which are unable to use the particle resource but, instead, rely on carbon from primary degr

SUBMITTER: Datta MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4915023 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature