Experimental testing of dispersal limitation in soil bacterial communities with a propagule addition approach
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Zhang, Fen-Guo
Bell, Thomas
Zhang, Quan-Guo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The role of dispersal in the assembly of microbial communities remains contentious. This study tested the importance of dispersal limitation for the structuring of local soil bacterial communities using an experimental approach of propagule addition. Microbes extracted from soil pooled from samples collected at 20 localities across ~ 400 km in a temperate steppe were added to microcosms of local soils at three sites; the microcosms were then incubated in situ for 3 months. We then assessed the composition and diversity of bacterial taxa in the soils using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The addition of the regional microbial pool did not cause significant changes in the overall composition or diversity of the total bacterial community, although a very small number of individual taxa may have been affected by the addition treatment. Our results suggest a negligible role of dispersal limitation in structuring soil bacterial communities in our study area.
Date Issued
2019-05
Date Acceptance
2018-10-29
Citation
Microbial Ecology, 2019, 77 (4), pp.905-912
ISSN
0095-3628
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Start Page
905
End Page
912
Journal / Book Title
Microbial Ecology
Volume
77
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018. The final publication is available at Springer via https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00248-018-1284-z
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30417222
PII: 10.1007/s00248-018-1284-z
Grant Number
NE/N002679/1
Subjects
Community assembly
Microcosm
Regional processes
Seed addition
Soil bacteria
Publication Status
Accepted
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2018-11-12