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Microbiota dispersion in the Uyuni salt flat (Bolivia) as determined by community structure analyses

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Abstract

Soil microbial communities are an important component of biological diversity and terrestrial ecosystems which is responsible for processes such as decomposition, mineralization of nutrients, and accumulation of organic matter. One of the factors that provide information on the mechanisms regulating biodiversity is spatial scaling. We characterized the microbial communities using 16S rRNA gene sequences from DNA isolated from halite at various locations and correlated these to geographic distance in the Uyuni salt flat (Bolivia). Sequences from each site were analyzed to determine any spatial patterns of diversity, as well as to describe the microbial communities. Results suggest that different taxa are able to disperse over Uyuni’s surface crust regardless of distance. As expected, ubiquitous taxa included members of Halobacteriaceae such as Haloarcula, Halorubrum, Halorhabdus, Halolamina, and halophilic bacteria Salinibacter, Halorhodospira, and unclassified members of the Gammaproteobacteria. Archaeal communities were homogeneous across the salt flat. In contrast, bacterial communities present strong local variations which could be attributed to external factors. Likely sources for these variations are the Rio Grande river influent in the south shore and the Tunupa volcano influencing the northern area.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr DNA Molecular Research Laboratory (Shallowater, TX) for their fast and reliable sequencing services.

Funding

This study was partially funded by the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement Program (Grant No. 5R25GM061151-12, -13) and the support of Universidad Mayor de San Simón’s Dirección de Ciencias y Tecnología (UMSS-DCyT).

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Author notes

  1. Jessica Rivera-Pérez

    Present address: Ecosystems and Global Change, PO Box 69040, Lincoln, 7640, New Zealand

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus, PO Box 23360, San Juan, 00931, Puerto Rico

    Cesar A. Pérez-Fernández, Jessica Rivera-Pérez & Gary A. Toranzos

  2. Centro de Aguas y Saneamiento Ambiental, Facultad de Ciencias y Tecnología, Universidad Mayor de San Simón, La Torre Square and Sucre St., Cochabamba, Bolivia

    Mercedes Iriarte

  3. Biology Department, University of Puerto Rico, Humacao campus, Jose E. Aguiar Aramburu Av. 908 road, Humacao, Puerto Rico

    Raymond L. Tremblay

  4. Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico, PO Box 23360, San Juan, 00931-3360, Puerto Rico

    Raymond L. Tremblay

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  1. Cesar A. Pérez-Fernández
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Correspondence to Cesar A. Pérez-Fernández.

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Rarefaction curves for unnormalized read counts (PNG 173 kb)

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Rare faction curves for normalized read counts (PNG 167 kb)

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Cannonical correspondence analysis of the microbial communities with the physicochemical description of (Risacher and Fritz 1991, 2000) (PNG 211 kb)

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Pérez-Fernández, C.A., Iriarte, M., Rivera-Pérez, J. et al. Microbiota dispersion in the Uyuni salt flat (Bolivia) as determined by community structure analyses. Int Microbiol 22, 325–336 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-018-00052-2

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