Different processes shape prokaryotic and picoeukaryotic assemblages in the sunlit ocean microbiome
Type
PreprintAuthors
Logares, Ramiro
Deutschmann, Ina M.
Giner, Caterina R

Krabberød, Anders K.

Schmidt, Thomas S. B.
Rubinat-Ripoll, Laura

Mestre, Mireia

Salazar, Guillem

Ruiz-González, Clara

Sebastián, Marta
de Vargas, Colomban

Acinas, Silvia G

Duarte, Carlos M.

Gasol, Josep M.

Massana, Ramon

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2018-07-23Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/668622
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
ABSTRACTThe smallest members of the sunlit-ocean microbiome (prokaryotes and picoeukaryotes) participate in a plethora of ecosystem functions with planetary-scale effects. Understanding the processes determining the spatial turnover of this assemblage can help us better comprehend the links between microbiome species composition and ecosystem function. Ecological theory predicts thatselection,dispersalanddriftare main drivers of species distributions, yet, the relative quantitative importance of these ecological processes in structuring the surface-ocean microbiome is barely known. Here we quantified the role of selection, dispersal and drift in structuring surface-ocean prokaryotic and picoeukaryotic assemblages by using community DNA-sequence data collected during the global Malaspina expedition. We found that dispersal limitation was the dominant process structuring picoeukaryotic communities, while a balanced combination of dispersal limitation, selection and drift shaped prokaryotic counterparts. Subsequently, we determined the agents exerting abiotic selection as well as the spatial patterns emerging from the action of different ecological processes. We found that selection exerted via temperature had a strong influence on the structure of prokaryotic communities, particularly on species co-occurrences, a pattern not observed among communities of picoeukaryotes. Other measured abiotic variables had limited selective effects on microbiome structure. Picoeukaryotes presented a higher differentiation between neighbouring communities and a higher distance-decay when compared to prokaryotes, agreeing with their higher dispersal limitation. Finally, drift seemed to have a limited role in structuring the sunlit-ocean microbiome. The different predominance of ecological processes acting on particular subsets of the ocean microbiome suggests uneven responses to environmental change.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe global ocean contains one of the largest microbiomes on Earth and changes on its structure can impact the functioning of the biosphere. Yet, we are far from understanding the mechanisms that structure the global ocean microbiome, that is, the relative importance of environmentalselection,dispersaland random events (drift). We evaluated the role of these processes at the global scale, based on data derived from a circumglobal expedition and found that these ecological processes act differently on prokaryotes and picoeukaryotes, two of the main components of the ocean microbiome. Our work represents a significant contribution to understand the assembly of marine microbial communities, providing also insights on the links between ecological mechanisms, microbiome structure and ecosystem function.Citation
Logares, R., Deutschmann, I. M., Giner, C. R., Krabberød, A. K., Schmidt, T. S. B., Rubinat-Ripoll, L., … Massana, R. (2018). Different processes shape prokaryotic and picoeukaryotic assemblages in the sunlit ocean microbiome. doi:10.1101/374298Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor LaboratoryDOI
10.1101/374298Additional Links
http://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/374298https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/bitstream/20.500.11850/456415/3/374298v1.full.pdf
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1101/374298