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Mesocosms of Aquatic Bacterial Communities from the Cuatro Cienegas Basin (Mexico): A Tool to Test Bacterial Community Response to Environmental Stress

  • Microbiology of Aquatic Systems
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Abstract

Microbial communities are responsible for important ecosystem processes, and their activities are regulated by environmental factors such as temperature and solar ultraviolet radiation. Here we investigate changes in aquatic microbial community structure, diversity, and evenness in response to changes in temperature and UV radiation. For this purpose, 15 mesocosms were seeded with both microbial mat communities and plankton from natural pools within the Cuatro Cienegas Basin (Mexico). Clone libraries (16S rRNA) were obtained from water samples at the beginning and at the end of the experiment (40 days). Phylogenetic analysis indicated substantial changes in aquatic community composition and structure in response to temperature and UV radiation. Extreme treatments with elevation in temperature or UV radiation reduced diversity in relation to the Control treatments, causing a reduction in richness and increase in dominance, with a proliferation of a few resistant operational taxonomic units. Each phylum was affected differentially by the new conditions, which translates in a differential modification of ecosystem functioning. This suggests that the impact of environmental stress, at least at short term, will reshape the aquatic bacterial communities of this unique ecosystem. This work also demonstrates the possibility of designing manageable synthetic microbial community ecosystems where controlled environmental variables can be manipulated. Therefore, microbial model systems offer a complementary approach to field and laboratory studies of global research problems associated with the environment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was done with the grants to VS: SEP CONACyT 50705, SEMARNAT 0023459. and WWF-Alianza Carlos Slim OL039. SP had a postdoctoral scholarship from CSIC (Spain). VS and LEE worked on the manuscript during their sabbatical leave with a DGAPA support for VS and LEE and UC-Mexus/Conacyt support for LEE. We thank particularly R. González Chauvet, M. Rodríguez, C. Alonso, and A. Uscanga, as well as people from the Molecular and Experimental Evolution Laboratory (UNAM) for the technical assistance in the field, L. Espinosa Asuar for the technical assistance in the laboratory, L. Falcón for the methodological advise, and C. Rooks for reading the manuscript. We specially thank PRONATURA Noreste for the access to the Pozas Azules ranch, the office of APFF of Cuatro Cienegas for their constant support, and the Hotel Marielena for providing long-term housing and support for the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), AP 70-275, CU, Coyoacán, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    Silvia Pajares, German Bonilla-Rosso, Luis E. Eguiarte & Valeria Souza

  2. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IRNA-CSIC), Salamanca, Spain

    Silvia Pajares

  3. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Michael Travisano

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  1. Silvia Pajares
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  2. German Bonilla-Rosso
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  4. Luis E. Eguiarte
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Correspondence to Valeria Souza.

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Pajares, S., Bonilla-Rosso, G., Travisano, M. et al. Mesocosms of Aquatic Bacterial Communities from the Cuatro Cienegas Basin (Mexico): A Tool to Test Bacterial Community Response to Environmental Stress. Microb Ecol 64, 346–358 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-012-0045-7

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