Higgins Edward, Parr Thomas B, Vaughn Caryn C
Oklahoma Biological Survey and Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, United States.
National Park Service, Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network, Ashland, WI, United States.
Front Microbiol. 2022 Jan 13;12:790554. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.790554. eCollection 2021.
Microbiomes are increasingly recognized as widespread regulators of function from individual organism to ecosystem scales. However, the manner in which animals influence the structure and function of environmental microbiomes has received considerably less attention. Using a comparative field study, we investigated the relationship between freshwater mussel microbiomes and environmental microbiomes. We used two focal species of unionid mussels, and , with distinct behavioral and physiological characteristics. Mussel microbiomes, those of the shell and biodeposits, were less diverse than both surface and subsurface sediment microbiomes. Mussel abundance was a significant predictor of sediment microbial community composition, but mussel species richness was not. Our data suggest that local habitat conditions which change dynamically along streams, such as discharge, water turnover, and canopy cover, work in tandem to influence environmental microbial community assemblages at discreet rather than landscape scales. Further, mussel burrowing activity and mussel shells may provide habitat for microbial communities critical to nutrient cycling in these systems.
微生物群落越来越被认为是从个体生物到生态系统尺度上功能的广泛调节者。然而，动物影响环境微生物群落结构和功能的方式受到的关注要少得多。通过一项比较性的野外研究，我们调查了淡水贻贝微生物群落与环境微生物群落之间的关系。我们使用了两种具有不同行为和生理特征的蚌科贻贝作为重点研究对象。贻贝的微生物群落，包括贝壳和生物沉积物中的微生物群落，其多样性低于表层和次表层沉积物中的微生物群落。贻贝的丰度是沉积物微生物群落组成的一个重要预测指标，但贻贝的物种丰富度不是。我们的数据表明，沿溪流动态变化的局部栖息地条件，如流量、水体周转和树冠覆盖，共同作用于在离散而非景观尺度上影响环境微生物群落组合。此外，贻贝的挖掘活动和贻贝壳可能为这些系统中对养分循环至关重要的微生物群落提供栖息地。
