Shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea driven by the deposition of Saharan dust and European aerosols
The atmospheric deposition of gases and particulates from the Sahara Desert and European landmass is an important source of nutrients for the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, we investigated how such atmospheric input might affect bacterial metabolic activities and community dynamics in the ultra-o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmars.2016.00170/full |
| _version_ | 1818195604401029120 |
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| author | Cui Guo Xiaomin Xia Paraskevi Pitta Barak Herut Eyal Rahav Ilana Berman-Frank Antonia Giannakourou Anastasia Tsiola Tatiana Tsagaraki Hongbin Liu |
| author_facet | Cui Guo Xiaomin Xia Paraskevi Pitta Barak Herut Eyal Rahav Ilana Berman-Frank Antonia Giannakourou Anastasia Tsiola Tatiana Tsagaraki Hongbin Liu |
| author_sort | Cui Guo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The atmospheric deposition of gases and particulates from the Sahara Desert and European landmass is an important source of nutrients for the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, we investigated how such atmospheric input might affect bacterial metabolic activities and community dynamics in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Thus a mesocosm simulation experiment was conducted using pure Saharan dust (SD) and mixed aerosols (A, polluted and desert origin). The cell specific bacterial production (BP) was stimulated soon after the addition of SD and A, with a higher degree of stimulation being observed in the activity of Alphaproteobacteria than in Gammaproteobacteria, and this lead to significant increases in community BP. Subsequently, a shift between these two dominating classes was observed (such that the proportion of Gammaproteobacteria increased while that of Alphaproteobacteria decreased), along with significant increases in bacterial abundance and chlorophyll a concentration. After a few days, although the abundance of bacteria was still significantly higher in the SD- or A-treated groups, differences in the active community composition between the treatment and control groups were reduced. The altered activity of the two dominating Proteobacteria classes observed, might reflect their different strategies in responding to external nutrient input: with Alphaproteobacteria being more responsive to the direct dust input, whereas Gammaproteobacteria seemed to benefit more from the increase in phytoplankton biomass. In addition, the input of A had a stronger immediate effect and longer lasting influence on changing the active bacterial community composition than did that of SD. Our findings show that episodic atmospheric deposition events might affect the microbial community with regards to their abundance, activity and composition over a short period of time, and thus regulate the function of the microbial community and carbon cycling in oligotrophic waters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T01:20:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2bfd5bcef20645b7b403942d65ffcd09 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T01:20:50Z |
| publishDate | 2016-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-2bfd5bcef20645b7b403942d65ffcd092022-12-22T00:43:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452016-09-01310.3389/fmars.2016.00170210561Shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea driven by the deposition of Saharan dust and European aerosolsCui Guo0Xiaomin Xia1Paraskevi Pitta2Barak Herut3Eyal Rahav4Ilana Berman-Frank5Antonia Giannakourou6Anastasia Tsiola7Tatiana Tsagaraki8Hongbin Liu9Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of OceanographyIsrael Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR), National Institute of OceanographyIsrael Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR), National Institute of OceanographyBar-Ilan UniversityInstitute of OceanographyHellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of OceanographyHellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of OceanographyHong Kong University of Science and TechnologyThe atmospheric deposition of gases and particulates from the Sahara Desert and European landmass is an important source of nutrients for the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, we investigated how such atmospheric input might affect bacterial metabolic activities and community dynamics in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Thus a mesocosm simulation experiment was conducted using pure Saharan dust (SD) and mixed aerosols (A, polluted and desert origin). The cell specific bacterial production (BP) was stimulated soon after the addition of SD and A, with a higher degree of stimulation being observed in the activity of Alphaproteobacteria than in Gammaproteobacteria, and this lead to significant increases in community BP. Subsequently, a shift between these two dominating classes was observed (such that the proportion of Gammaproteobacteria increased while that of Alphaproteobacteria decreased), along with significant increases in bacterial abundance and chlorophyll a concentration. After a few days, although the abundance of bacteria was still significantly higher in the SD- or A-treated groups, differences in the active community composition between the treatment and control groups were reduced. The altered activity of the two dominating Proteobacteria classes observed, might reflect their different strategies in responding to external nutrient input: with Alphaproteobacteria being more responsive to the direct dust input, whereas Gammaproteobacteria seemed to benefit more from the increase in phytoplankton biomass. In addition, the input of A had a stronger immediate effect and longer lasting influence on changing the active bacterial community composition than did that of SD. Our findings show that episodic atmospheric deposition events might affect the microbial community with regards to their abundance, activity and composition over a short period of time, and thus regulate the function of the microbial community and carbon cycling in oligotrophic waters.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmars.2016.00170/fullpyrosequencing16S rRNAAtmospheric depositionbacterial productionbacterial community structureSahara dust |
| spellingShingle | Cui Guo Xiaomin Xia Paraskevi Pitta Barak Herut Eyal Rahav Ilana Berman-Frank Antonia Giannakourou Anastasia Tsiola Tatiana Tsagaraki Hongbin Liu Shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea driven by the deposition of Saharan dust and European aerosols Frontiers in Marine Science pyrosequencing 16S rRNA Atmospheric deposition bacterial production bacterial community structure Sahara dust |
| title | Shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea driven by the deposition of Saharan dust and European aerosols |
| title_full | Shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea driven by the deposition of Saharan dust and European aerosols |
| title_fullStr | Shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea driven by the deposition of Saharan dust and European aerosols |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea driven by the deposition of Saharan dust and European aerosols |
| title_short | Shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea driven by the deposition of Saharan dust and European aerosols |
| title_sort | shifts in microbial community structure and activity in the ultra oligotrophic eastern mediterranean sea driven by the deposition of saharan dust and european aerosols |
| topic | pyrosequencing 16S rRNA Atmospheric deposition bacterial production bacterial community structure Sahara dust |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmars.2016.00170/full |
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