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Bacterioplankton Zonation Does Exist in High Elevation, Polymictic Lakes

The assessment of distribution patterns or zonation of planktonic microbes along the water column is a crucial step to interpret their function in the ecosystem. In lakes without seasonal thermal stratification or polymictic systems such as high elevation tropical lakes, planktonic bacterial taxa ar...

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Autores principales: Aguilar, Pablo, Vila, Irma, Sommaruga, Ruben
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8891803/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35250918
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.764566
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author Aguilar, Pablo
Vila, Irma
Sommaruga, Ruben
author_facet Aguilar, Pablo
Vila, Irma
Sommaruga, Ruben
author_sort Aguilar, Pablo
collection PubMed
description The assessment of distribution patterns or zonation of planktonic microbes along the water column is a crucial step to interpret their function in the ecosystem. In lakes without seasonal thermal stratification or polymictic systems such as high elevation tropical lakes, planktonic bacterial taxa are probably homogeneously distributed in the water column in contrast to what is known for thermally stratified lakes. However, we know little about bacterial distribution patterns in polymictic lakes and their relation to environmental gradients other than temperature. Here we assessed the diversity, microdiversity, and bacterial community composition at different discrete depths in three high elevation lakes (4,400–4,550 m above sea level) from the Andean plateau to test whether bacterial zonation patterns exist along the water column. For this objective, we analyzed bulk DNA and the putatively active fraction (cDNA) of the 16S rRNA gene. Although a clear gradient of temperature and oxygen was not detected along the water column, a significant vertical spatial zonation of the bacterial communities was present in two out of the three lakes, with microdiversity contributing to such pattern. Our results provide a reference for understanding how changing environmental conditions could affect high elevation aquatic ecosystems, particularly when warming is amplified with elevation, accelerating changes in hydrological regimes and biodiversity. Finally, our results highlight the importance of incorporating the whole water column in ecological studies of aquatic ecosystems lacking temporal or permanent thermal stratification.
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spelling pubmed-88918032022-03-04 Bacterioplankton Zonation Does Exist in High Elevation, Polymictic Lakes Aguilar, Pablo Vila, Irma Sommaruga, Ruben Front Microbiol Microbiology The assessment of distribution patterns or zonation of planktonic microbes along the water column is a crucial step to interpret their function in the ecosystem. In lakes without seasonal thermal stratification or polymictic systems such as high elevation tropical lakes, planktonic bacterial taxa are probably homogeneously distributed in the water column in contrast to what is known for thermally stratified lakes. However, we know little about bacterial distribution patterns in polymictic lakes and their relation to environmental gradients other than temperature. Here we assessed the diversity, microdiversity, and bacterial community composition at different discrete depths in three high elevation lakes (4,400–4,550 m above sea level) from the Andean plateau to test whether bacterial zonation patterns exist along the water column. For this objective, we analyzed bulk DNA and the putatively active fraction (cDNA) of the 16S rRNA gene. Although a clear gradient of temperature and oxygen was not detected along the water column, a significant vertical spatial zonation of the bacterial communities was present in two out of the three lakes, with microdiversity contributing to such pattern. Our results provide a reference for understanding how changing environmental conditions could affect high elevation aquatic ecosystems, particularly when warming is amplified with elevation, accelerating changes in hydrological regimes and biodiversity. Finally, our results highlight the importance of incorporating the whole water column in ecological studies of aquatic ecosystems lacking temporal or permanent thermal stratification. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-02-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8891803/ /pubmed/35250918 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.764566 Text en Copyright © 2022 Aguilar, Vila and Sommaruga. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Aguilar, Pablo
Vila, Irma
Sommaruga, Ruben
Bacterioplankton Zonation Does Exist in High Elevation, Polymictic Lakes
title Bacterioplankton Zonation Does Exist in High Elevation, Polymictic Lakes
title_full Bacterioplankton Zonation Does Exist in High Elevation, Polymictic Lakes
title_fullStr Bacterioplankton Zonation Does Exist in High Elevation, Polymictic Lakes
title_full_unstemmed Bacterioplankton Zonation Does Exist in High Elevation, Polymictic Lakes
title_short Bacterioplankton Zonation Does Exist in High Elevation, Polymictic Lakes
title_sort bacterioplankton zonation does exist in high elevation, polymictic lakes
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8891803/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35250918
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.764566
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