Microbial Communities Are Well Adapted to Disturbances in Energy Input.

ABSTRACT: Although microbial systems are well suited for studying concepts in ecological theory, little is known about how microbial communities respond to long-term periodic perturbations beyond diel oscillations. Taking advantage of an ongoing microcosm experiment, we studied how methanotrophic microbial communities adapted to disturbances in energy input over a 20-day cycle period. Sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes together with quantification of microbial abundance and ecosystem function were used to explore the long-term dynamics (510 days) of methanotrophic communities under continuous versus cyclic chemical energy supply. We observed that microbial communities appeared inherently well adapted to disturbances in energy input and that changes in community structure in both treatments were

SUBMITTER: Fernandez-Gonzalez N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5080406 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature