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Bottom-up regulation of bacterial growth in tropical phytotelm bromeliads

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Abstract

Evaluating the factors that regulate bacterial growth in natural ecosystems is a major goal of modern microbial ecology. Phytotelm bromeliads have been used as model ecosystems in aquatic ecology as they provide many independent replicates in a small area and often encompass a wide range of limnological conditions. However, as far as we know, there has been no attempt to evaluate the main regulatory factors of bacterial growth in these aquatic ecosystems. Here, we used field surveys to evaluate the main bottom-up factors that regulate bacterial growth in the accumulated water of tank bromeliads. Bacterial production, water temperature, water color, chlorophyll-a, and nutrient concentrations were determined for 147 different tank bromeliads in two different samplings. Bromeliad position and the season of sampling were also noted. Bacterial production was explained by ion ammonium concentration and water temperature, but the total variance explained was low (r 2 = 0.104). Sampling period and bromeliad position were included in additional models that gave empirical support for predicting bacterial production. Bromeliad water tanks are extremely variable aquatic ecosystems in space (among bromeliads) and time (environmental conditions can change within hours), and it is well known that bacterial production responds rapidly to environmental change. Therefore, we concluded that several factors could independently regulate bacterial growth in phytotelm bromeliads depending on the characteristics of each bromeliad, such as location, amount of detritus, and ambient nutrient concentrations. A clear bottom-up limitation pattern of bacterial production in tropical phytotelm bromeliads was not found.

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Acknowledgments

C.S.H. and A.P.F.P. are, respectively, grateful to PIBIC-UFRJ and FAPERJ Institution for undergraduate scholarships. D.S. Srivastava kindly reviewed early draft versions of the manuscript and offered helpful suggestions for its improvement. Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETROBRAS) supported this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lab. Limnologia, Dept. Ecologia, Inst. de Biologia, CCS-UFRJ, PO Box 68020, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-590, Brazil

    Camilla S. Haubrich, Aliny P. F. Pires, Francisco A. Esteves & Vinicius F. Farjalla

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, UFRJ (PPGE-UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Camilla S. Haubrich & Aliny P. F. Pires

  3. Núcleo em Ecologia e Desenvolvimento Sustentável de Macaé (NUPEM/UFRJ), Agência Correio Macaé, Centro, Macaé, PO Box 119331, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Francisco A. Esteves & Vinicius F. Farjalla

Authors
  1. Camilla S. Haubrich
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  2. Aliny P. F. Pires
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  3. Francisco A. Esteves
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  4. Vinicius F. Farjalla
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Correspondence to Vinicius F. Farjalla.

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Handling editor: Luigi Naselli-Flores

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Haubrich, C.S., Pires, A.P.F., Esteves, F.A. et al. Bottom-up regulation of bacterial growth in tropical phytotelm bromeliads. Hydrobiologia 632, 347–353 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9841-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9841-6

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