Linking the development and functioning of a carnivorous pitcher plant's microbial digestive community.

ABSTRACT: Ecosystem development theory predicts that successional turnover in community composition can influence ecosystem functioning. However, tests of this theory in natural systems are made difficult by a lack of replicable and tractable model systems. Using the microbial digestive associates of a carnivorous pitcher plant, I tested hypotheses linking host age-driven microbial community development to host functioning. Monitoring the yearlong development of independent microbial digestive communities in two pitcher plant populations revealed a number of trends in community succession matching theoretical predictions. These included mid-successional peaks in bacterial diversity and metabolic substrate use, predictable and parallel successional trajectories among microbial communities, and conver

SUBMITTER: Armitage DW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5649175 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature