Disentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
Abstract Photosynthesis fuels primary production at the base of marine food webs. Yet, in many surface ocean ecosystems, diel-driven primary production is tightly coupled to daily loss. This tight coupling raises the question: which top-down drivers predominate in maintaining persistently stable pic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46165-3 |
| _version_ | 1797266711712366592 |
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| author | Stephen J. Beckett David Demory Ashley R. Coenen John R. Casey Mathilde Dugenne Christopher L. Follett Paige Connell Michael C. G. Carlson Sarah K. Hu Samuel T. Wilson Daniel Muratore Rogelio A. Rodriguez-Gonzalez Shengyun Peng Kevin W. Becker Daniel R. Mende E. Virginia Armbrust David A. Caron Debbie Lindell Angelicque E. White François Ribalet Joshua S. Weitz |
| author_facet | Stephen J. Beckett David Demory Ashley R. Coenen John R. Casey Mathilde Dugenne Christopher L. Follett Paige Connell Michael C. G. Carlson Sarah K. Hu Samuel T. Wilson Daniel Muratore Rogelio A. Rodriguez-Gonzalez Shengyun Peng Kevin W. Becker Daniel R. Mende E. Virginia Armbrust David A. Caron Debbie Lindell Angelicque E. White François Ribalet Joshua S. Weitz |
| author_sort | Stephen J. Beckett |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Photosynthesis fuels primary production at the base of marine food webs. Yet, in many surface ocean ecosystems, diel-driven primary production is tightly coupled to daily loss. This tight coupling raises the question: which top-down drivers predominate in maintaining persistently stable picocyanobacterial populations over longer time scales? Motivated by high-frequency surface water measurements taken in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), we developed multitrophic models to investigate bottom-up and top-down mechanisms underlying the balanced control of Prochlorococcus populations. We find that incorporating photosynthetic growth with viral- and predator-induced mortality is sufficient to recapitulate daily oscillations of Prochlorococcus abundances with baseline community abundances. In doing so, we infer that grazers in this environment function as the predominant top-down factor despite high standing viral particle densities. The model-data fits also reveal the ecological relevance of light-dependent viral traits and non-canonical factors to cellular loss. Finally, we leverage sensitivity analyses to demonstrate how variation in life history traits across distinct oceanic contexts, including variation in viral adsorption and grazer clearance rates, can transform the quantitative and even qualitative importance of top-down controls in shaping Prochlorococcus population dynamics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:05:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-846c121df20d4f70babafe4c8356cd15 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:05:02Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-846c121df20d4f70babafe4c8356cd152024-03-10T12:17:45ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-03-0115111310.1038/s41467-024-46165-3Disentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical GyreStephen J. Beckett0David Demory1Ashley R. Coenen2John R. Casey3Mathilde Dugenne4Christopher L. Follett5Paige Connell6Michael C. G. Carlson7Sarah K. Hu8Samuel T. Wilson9Daniel Muratore10Rogelio A. Rodriguez-Gonzalez11Shengyun Peng12Kevin W. Becker13Daniel R. Mende14E. Virginia Armbrust15David A. Caron16Debbie Lindell17Angelicque E. White18François Ribalet19Joshua S. Weitz20School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Physics, Georgia Institute of TechnologyDaniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, University of Hawai’i at MānoaDaniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, University of Hawai’i at MānoaDepartment of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Southern CaliforniaFaculty of Biology, Technion – Israel Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Southern CaliforniaDaniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, University of Hawai’i at MānoaSchool of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionDaniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, University of Hawai’i at MānoaSchool of Oceanography, University of WashingtonDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Southern CaliforniaFaculty of Biology, Technion – Israel Institute of TechnologyDaniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, University of Hawai’i at MānoaSchool of Oceanography, University of WashingtonSchool of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of TechnologyAbstract Photosynthesis fuels primary production at the base of marine food webs. Yet, in many surface ocean ecosystems, diel-driven primary production is tightly coupled to daily loss. This tight coupling raises the question: which top-down drivers predominate in maintaining persistently stable picocyanobacterial populations over longer time scales? Motivated by high-frequency surface water measurements taken in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), we developed multitrophic models to investigate bottom-up and top-down mechanisms underlying the balanced control of Prochlorococcus populations. We find that incorporating photosynthetic growth with viral- and predator-induced mortality is sufficient to recapitulate daily oscillations of Prochlorococcus abundances with baseline community abundances. In doing so, we infer that grazers in this environment function as the predominant top-down factor despite high standing viral particle densities. The model-data fits also reveal the ecological relevance of light-dependent viral traits and non-canonical factors to cellular loss. Finally, we leverage sensitivity analyses to demonstrate how variation in life history traits across distinct oceanic contexts, including variation in viral adsorption and grazer clearance rates, can transform the quantitative and even qualitative importance of top-down controls in shaping Prochlorococcus population dynamics.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46165-3 |
| spellingShingle | Stephen J. Beckett David Demory Ashley R. Coenen John R. Casey Mathilde Dugenne Christopher L. Follett Paige Connell Michael C. G. Carlson Sarah K. Hu Samuel T. Wilson Daniel Muratore Rogelio A. Rodriguez-Gonzalez Shengyun Peng Kevin W. Becker Daniel R. Mende E. Virginia Armbrust David A. Caron Debbie Lindell Angelicque E. White François Ribalet Joshua S. Weitz Disentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre Nature Communications |
| title | Disentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_full | Disentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_fullStr | Disentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_short | Disentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_sort | disentangling top down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of prochlorococcus in the north pacific subtropical gyre |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46165-3 |
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