TY - JOUR
T1 - Cyanobacterial biocrust diversity in Mediterranean ecosystems along a latitudinal and climatic gradient
AU - Muñoz-Martín, M. Ángeles
AU - Becerra-Absalón, Itzel
AU - Perona, Elvira
AU - Fernández-Valbuena, Lara
AU - Garcia-Pichel, Ferran
AU - Mateo, Pilar
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by project CGL2013-44870-R and CGL2017-86258-R of the Spanish Government and European Regional Funds. I.B-A. acknowledges support from a CONACyT-Mexico postdoctoral fellowship at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. We also thank Yolanda Cantón and Virginia Loza for their help in collecting samples.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - Cyanobacteria are a key biotic component as primary producers in biocrusts, topsoil communities that have important roles in the functioning of drylands. Yet, major knowledge gaps exist regarding the composition of biocrust cyanobacterial diversity and distribution in Mediterranean ecosystems. We describe cyanobacterial diversity in Mediterranean semiarid soil crusts along an aridity gradient by using next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics analyses, and detect clear shifts along it in cyanobacterial dominance. Statistical analyses show that temperature and precipitation were major parameters determining cyanobacterial composition, suggesting the presence of differentiated climatic niches for distinct cyanobacteria. The responses to temperature of a set of cultivated, pedigreed strains representative of the field populations lend direct support to that contention, with psychrotolerant vs thermotolerant physiology being strain dependent, and consistent with their dominance along the natural gradient. Our results suggest a possible replacement, as global warming proceeds, of cool-adapted by warm-adapted nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (such as Scytonema) and a switch in the dominance of Microcoleus vaginatus by thermotolerant, novel phylotypes of bundle-forming cyanobacteria. These differential sensitivities of cyanobacteria to rising temperatures and decreasing precipitation, their ubiquity, and their low generation time point to their potential as bioindicators of global change.
AB - Cyanobacteria are a key biotic component as primary producers in biocrusts, topsoil communities that have important roles in the functioning of drylands. Yet, major knowledge gaps exist regarding the composition of biocrust cyanobacterial diversity and distribution in Mediterranean ecosystems. We describe cyanobacterial diversity in Mediterranean semiarid soil crusts along an aridity gradient by using next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics analyses, and detect clear shifts along it in cyanobacterial dominance. Statistical analyses show that temperature and precipitation were major parameters determining cyanobacterial composition, suggesting the presence of differentiated climatic niches for distinct cyanobacteria. The responses to temperature of a set of cultivated, pedigreed strains representative of the field populations lend direct support to that contention, with psychrotolerant vs thermotolerant physiology being strain dependent, and consistent with their dominance along the natural gradient. Our results suggest a possible replacement, as global warming proceeds, of cool-adapted by warm-adapted nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (such as Scytonema) and a switch in the dominance of Microcoleus vaginatus by thermotolerant, novel phylotypes of bundle-forming cyanobacteria. These differential sensitivities of cyanobacteria to rising temperatures and decreasing precipitation, their ubiquity, and their low generation time point to their potential as bioindicators of global change.
KW - Illumina sequencing
KW - global change
KW - indicator
KW - key topsoil microorganisms
KW - precipitation
KW - psychrotolerant cyanobacteria
KW - temperature
KW - thermotolerant cyanobacteria
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U2 - 10.1111/nph.15355
DO - 10.1111/nph.15355
M3 - Article
C2 - 30047599
AN - SCOPUS:85057561592
SN - 0028-646X
VL - 221
SP - 123
EP - 141
JO - New Phytologist
JF - New Phytologist
IS - 1
ER -