TY - JOUR
T1 - Metapopulation theory identifies biogeographical patterns among core and satellite marine bacteria scaling from tens to thousands of kilometers
T2 - Applied metapopulation theory for marine microbes
AU - Lindh, Markus V.
AU - Sjöstedt, Johanna
AU - Ekstam, Börje
AU - Casini, Michele
AU - Lundin, Daniel
AU - Hugerth, Luisa W.
AU - Hu, Yue O. O.
AU - Andersson, Anders F.
AU - Andersson, Agneta
AU - Legrand, Catherine
AU - Pinhassi, Jarone
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Metapopulation theory developed in terrestrial ecology provides applicable frameworks for interpreting the role of local and regional processes in shaping species distribution patterns. Yet, empirical testing of metapopulation models on microbial communities is essentially lacking. We determined regional bacterioplankton dynamics from monthly transect sampling in the Baltic Sea Proper using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. A strong positive trend was found between local relative abundance and occupancy of populations. Notably, the occupancy-frequency distributions were significantly bimodal with a satellite mode of rare endemic populations and a core mode of abundant cosmopolitan populations (e.g. Synechococcus, SAR11 and SAR86 clade members). Temporal changes in population distributions supported several theoretical frameworks. Still, bimodality was found among bacterioplankton communities across the entire Baltic Sea, and was also frequent in globally distributed datasets. Datasets spanning waters with widely different physicochemical characteristics or environmental gradients typically lacked significant bimodal patterns. When such datasets were divided into subsets with coherent environmental conditions, bimodal patterns emerged, highlighting the importance of positive feedbacks between local abundance and occupancy within specific biomes. Thus, metapopulation theory applied to microbial biogeography can provide novel insights into the mechanisms governing shifts in biodiversity resulting from natural or anthropogenically induced changes in the environment.
AB - Metapopulation theory developed in terrestrial ecology provides applicable frameworks for interpreting the role of local and regional processes in shaping species distribution patterns. Yet, empirical testing of metapopulation models on microbial communities is essentially lacking. We determined regional bacterioplankton dynamics from monthly transect sampling in the Baltic Sea Proper using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. A strong positive trend was found between local relative abundance and occupancy of populations. Notably, the occupancy-frequency distributions were significantly bimodal with a satellite mode of rare endemic populations and a core mode of abundant cosmopolitan populations (e.g. Synechococcus, SAR11 and SAR86 clade members). Temporal changes in population distributions supported several theoretical frameworks. Still, bimodality was found among bacterioplankton communities across the entire Baltic Sea, and was also frequent in globally distributed datasets. Datasets spanning waters with widely different physicochemical characteristics or environmental gradients typically lacked significant bimodal patterns. When such datasets were divided into subsets with coherent environmental conditions, bimodal patterns emerged, highlighting the importance of positive feedbacks between local abundance and occupancy within specific biomes. Thus, metapopulation theory applied to microbial biogeography can provide novel insights into the mechanisms governing shifts in biodiversity resulting from natural or anthropogenically induced changes in the environment.
U2 - 10.1111/1462-2920.13650
DO - 10.1111/1462-2920.13650
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 28028880
VL - 19
SP - 1222
EP - 1236
JO - Environmental Microbiology
JF - Environmental Microbiology
SN - 1462-2912
IS - 3
ER -