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Contrasting Patterns of Community Assembly in the Stratified Water Column of Great Salt Lake, Utah

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

Phylogenetic examinations of communities sampled along geochemical gradients provide a framework for inferring the relative importance of niche-based ecological interactions (competition, environmental filtering) and neutral-based evolutionary interactions in structuring biodiversity. Great Salt Lake (GSL) in Utah exhibits strong spatial gradients due to both seasonal variation in freshwater input into the watershed and restricted fluid flow within North America’s largest saline terminal lake ecosystem. Here, we examine the phylogenetic structure and composition of archaeal, bacterial, and eukaryal small subunit (SSU) rRNA genes sampled along a stratified water column (DWR3) in the south arm of GSL in order to infer the underlying mechanism of community assembly. Communities sampled from the DWR3 epilimnion were phylogenetically clustered (i.e., coexistence of close relatives due to environmental filtering) whereas those sampled from the DWR3 hypolimnion were phylogenetically overdispersed (i.e., coexistence of distant relatives due to competitive interactions), with minimal evidence for a role for neutral processes in structuring any assemblage. The shift from phylogenetically clustered to overdispersed assemblages was associated with an increase in salinity and a decrease in dissolved O2 (DO) concentration. Likewise, the phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic similarity of assemblages was strongly associated with salinity or DO gradients. Thus, salinity and/or DO appeared to influence the mechanism of community assembly as well as the phylogenetic diversity and composition of communities. It is proposed that the observed patterns in the phylogenetic composition and structure of DWR3 assemblages are attributable to the meromictic nature of GSL, which prevents significant mixing between the epilimnion and the hypolimnion. This leads to strong physicochemical gradients at the halocline, which are capable of supporting a greater diversity. However, concomitant shifts in nutrient availability (e.g., DO) at and below the halocline drive competitive interactions leading to hypolimnion assemblages with minimal niche overlap.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere gratitude to John Luft and colleagues at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Project, for boat access, sampling help, and GIS expertise. The authors of this work gratefully acknowledge the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant FA9550-05-1-0365 and FA9550-11-1-0211 (to JEM, JWP, MCP, and ESB) and R-8196-G1 to JRS. We would also like to acknowledge the technical assistance of Devin Karns and Alex Trujillo as well as Shannon Ulrich and Dave Vuono for their careful review of a previous version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 80401, USA

    Jonathan E. Meuser & John R. Spear

  2. Department of Biology and the Great Salt Lake Institute, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT, 84105, USA

    Bonnie K. Baxter

  3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, 103 Chemistry Research Building, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA

    John W. Peters & Eric S. Boyd

  4. Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 80401, USA

    Matthew C. Posewitz

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  1. Jonathan E. Meuser
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  6. Eric S. Boyd
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Correspondence to Eric S. Boyd.

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Meuser, J.E., Baxter, B.K., Spear, J.R. et al. Contrasting Patterns of Community Assembly in the Stratified Water Column of Great Salt Lake, Utah. Microb Ecol 66, 268–280 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-013-0180-9

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