Contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses: a reconciling tale from the Río Tinto.
<h4>Background</h4>The Río Tinto (RT) is distinguished from other acid mine drainage systems by its natural and ancient origins. Microbial life from all three domains flourishes in this ecosystem, but bacteria dominate metabolic processes that perpetuate environmental extremes. While the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2008-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/19052647/pdf/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1818931772526690304 |
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| author | Carmen Palacios Erik Zettler Ricardo Amils Linda Amaral-Zettler |
| author_facet | Carmen Palacios Erik Zettler Ricardo Amils Linda Amaral-Zettler |
| author_sort | Carmen Palacios |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>The Río Tinto (RT) is distinguished from other acid mine drainage systems by its natural and ancient origins. Microbial life from all three domains flourishes in this ecosystem, but bacteria dominate metabolic processes that perpetuate environmental extremes. While the patchy geochemistry of the RT likely influences the dynamics of bacterial populations, demonstrating which environmental variables shape microbial diversity and unveiling the mechanisms underlying observed patterns, remain major challenges in microbial ecology whose answers rely upon detailed assessments of community structures coupled with fine-scale measurements of physico-chemical parameters.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>By using high-throughput environmental tag sequencing we achieved saturation of richness estimators for the first time in the RT. We found that environmental factors dictate the distribution of the most abundant taxa in this system, but stochastic niche differentiation processes, such as mutation and dispersal, also contribute to observed diversity patterns.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>We predict that studies providing clues to the evolutionary and ecological processes underlying microbial distributions will reconcile the ongoing debate between the Baas Becking vs. Hubbell community assembly hypotheses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:21:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8e8eb16e0cfa44d8bb4ed337ecc6ad99 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:21:54Z |
| publishDate | 2008-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-8e8eb16e0cfa44d8bb4ed337ecc6ad992022-12-21T19:53:37ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032008-01-01312e385310.1371/journal.pone.0003853Contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses: a reconciling tale from the Río Tinto.Carmen PalaciosErik ZettlerRicardo AmilsLinda Amaral-Zettler<h4>Background</h4>The Río Tinto (RT) is distinguished from other acid mine drainage systems by its natural and ancient origins. Microbial life from all three domains flourishes in this ecosystem, but bacteria dominate metabolic processes that perpetuate environmental extremes. While the patchy geochemistry of the RT likely influences the dynamics of bacterial populations, demonstrating which environmental variables shape microbial diversity and unveiling the mechanisms underlying observed patterns, remain major challenges in microbial ecology whose answers rely upon detailed assessments of community structures coupled with fine-scale measurements of physico-chemical parameters.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>By using high-throughput environmental tag sequencing we achieved saturation of richness estimators for the first time in the RT. We found that environmental factors dictate the distribution of the most abundant taxa in this system, but stochastic niche differentiation processes, such as mutation and dispersal, also contribute to observed diversity patterns.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>We predict that studies providing clues to the evolutionary and ecological processes underlying microbial distributions will reconcile the ongoing debate between the Baas Becking vs. Hubbell community assembly hypotheses.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/19052647/pdf/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Carmen Palacios Erik Zettler Ricardo Amils Linda Amaral-Zettler Contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses: a reconciling tale from the Río Tinto. PLoS ONE |
| title | Contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses: a reconciling tale from the Río Tinto. |
| title_full | Contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses: a reconciling tale from the Río Tinto. |
| title_fullStr | Contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses: a reconciling tale from the Río Tinto. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses: a reconciling tale from the Río Tinto. |
| title_short | Contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses: a reconciling tale from the Río Tinto. |
| title_sort | contrasting microbial community assembly hypotheses a reconciling tale from the rio tinto |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/19052647/pdf/?tool=EBI |
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