Response and effect interactions between bacterial communities and organic matter

• The interaction between bacteria and dissolved organic matter (DOM) is crucial for the global carbon cycling. Despite decades of research there are, however, few consistent patterns regarding the relationship between bacterial diversity and community composition and DOM. Here we hypothesized that one reason for such inconsistences among studies is that bacterial communities can adapt to a DOM source over time, whereby a change in the functioning of a community can be, at least partly, decoupled from its composition and diversity. To test this idea we performed a reciprocal transplant experiment with medium (i.e. DOM source) and bacterial communities from two boreal lakes. In this experiment the two communities were allowed to adapt to their indigenous and their foreign source of DOM over 42 days. Bacterial community composition (BCC) was measured throughout the experiment. In addition we measured the capacity of the communities to use DOM, in repeated short (5 days) separated bioassays. The results show a response of bacterial community composition to the DOM sources which was influenced by the origin of the community. In contrast, we could not show an effect of BCC on DOM-processing and functional performance. Indeed, communities of different origin processed the two DOM sources equally well even at the beginning of the experiment. This work demonstrates that the DOM pool can be a strong selective force for BCC but not vice versa. 

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)