Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA.
School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32603, USA.
Ecology. 2021 May;102(5):e03308. doi: 10.1002/ecy.3308. Epub 2021 Mar 23.
The importance of climate, habitat structure, and higher trophic levels on microbial diversity is only beginning to be understood. Here, we examined the influence of climate variables, plant morphology, and the abundance of aquatic invertebrates on the microbial biodiversity of the northern pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. The plant's cup-shaped leaves fill with rainwater and support a miniature, yet full-fledged, ecosystem with a diverse microbiome that decomposes captured prey and a small network of shredding and filter-feeding aquatic invertebrates that feed on microbes. We characterized pitcher microbiomes of 108 plants sampled at 36 sites from Florida to Quebec. Structural equation models revealed that annual precipitation and temperature, plant size, and midge abundance had direct effects on microbiome taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity. Climate variables also exerted indirect effects through plant size and midge abundance. Further, spatial structure and climate influenced taxonomic composition, but not phylogenetic composition. Our results suggest that direct effects of midge abundance and climate and indirect effects of climate through its effect on plant-associated factors lead to greater richness of microbial phylotypes in warmer, wetter sites.
气候、生境结构和较高营养层次对微生物多样性的重要性才刚刚开始被理解。在这里，我们研究了气候变量、植物形态和水生无脊椎动物丰度对北方猪笼草 Sarracenia purpurea 微生物生物多样性的影响。植物杯状的叶子会充满雨水，并支持一个微型但成熟的生态系统，其中拥有多样的微生物群落，这些微生物群落分解捕获的猎物，还有一个小型的撕食和滤食性水生无脊椎动物网络，它们以微生物为食。我们对从佛罗里达到魁北克的 36 个地点采集的 108 株猪笼草的微生物组进行了特征描述。结构方程模型显示，年降水量和温度、植物大小和摇蚊丰度对微生物分类和系统发育多样性有直接影响。气候变量也通过植物大小和摇蚊丰度产生间接影响。此外，空间结构和气候影响了分类组成，但不影响系统发育组成。我们的结果表明，摇蚊丰度和气候的直接影响以及气候通过对植物相关因素的影响产生的间接影响导致在温暖、潮湿的地点微生物的系统发育型更加丰富。
