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Divergence of Biocrust Active Bacterial Communities in the Negev Desert During a Hydration-Desiccation Cycle

  • Soil Microbiology
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Abstract

Rain events in arid environments are highly unpredictable and intersperse extended periods of drought. Therefore, tracking changes in desert soil bacterial communities during rain events, in the field, was seldom attempted. Here, we assessed rain-mediated dynamics of active bacterial communities in the Negev Desert biological soil crust (biocrust). Biocrust samples were collected during, and after a medium rainfall and dry soil was used as a control; we evaluated the changes in active bacterial composition, potential function, potential photosynthetic activity, and extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) production. We hypothesized that rain would activate the biocrust phototrophs (mainly Cyanobacteria), while desiccation would inhibit their activity. In contrast, the biocrust Actinobacteria would decline during rewetting and revive with desiccation. Our results showed that hydration increased chlorophyll content and EPS production. As expected, biocrust rewetting activated Cyanobacteria, which replaced the former dominant Actinobacteria, boosting potential autotrophic functions. However, desiccation of the biocrust did not immediately change the bacterial composition or potential function and was followed by a delayed decrease in chlorophyll and EPS levels. This dramatic shift in the community upon rewetting led to modifications in ecosystem services. We propose that following a rain event, the response of the active bacterial community lagged behind the biocrust water content due to the production of EPS which delayed desiccation and temporarily sustained the biocrust community activity.

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Data Availability

The data (raw reads) are available in Bioproject under the submission number PRJNA718159.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Lusine Ghazaryan for technical support and to Ben Poodiack and Kate Kaufman for editing the manuscript.

Funding

This study was partially supported by the Israel Science Academy, grant no. 993/11.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Capucine Baubin, Noya Ran, Hagar Siebner & Osnat Gillor

Authors
  1. Capucine Baubin
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  2. Noya Ran
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  3. Hagar Siebner
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  4. Osnat Gillor
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Contributions

CB, OG, and HS conceptualized and designed the methodology; CB and OG collected the samples and metadata; CB and NR did the laboratory work and sequencing; CB did the formal analysis, visualization, data curation, and wrote the manuscript; CB, OG, HS, and NR did the reviewing and editing of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Capucine Baubin or Osnat Gillor.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Baubin, C., Ran, N., Siebner, H. et al. Divergence of Biocrust Active Bacterial Communities in the Negev Desert During a Hydration-Desiccation Cycle. Microb Ecol 86, 474–484 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-022-02063-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-022-02063-z

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