Competition and predation as possible causes of bacterial rarity

TY - JOUR

T1 - Competition and predation as possible causes of bacterial rarity

AU - Kurm, Viola

AU - van der Putten, Wim H

AU - Weidner, Simone

AU - Geisen, Stefan

AU - Snoek, Basten L

AU - Bakx, Tanja

AU - Hol, W H Gera

N1 - 6694, TE; Data Archiving: archived in DataverseNL

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - We assembled communities of bacteria and exposed them to different nutrient concentrations with or without predation by protists. Taxa that were rare in the field were less abundant at low nutrient concentrations than common taxa, independent of predation. However, some taxa that were rare in the field became highly abundant in the assembled communities, especially under ample nutrient availability. This high abundance points at a possible competitive advantage of some rare bacterial taxa under nutrient-rich conditions. In contrast, the abundance of most rare bacterial taxa decreased at low resource availability. Since low resource availability will be the prevailing situation in most soils, our data suggests that under those conditions poor competitiveness for limiting resources may contribute to bacterial rarity. Interestingly, taxa that were rare in the field and most successful under predator-free conditions in the lab also tended to be more reduced by predation than common taxa. This suggests that predation contributes to rarity of bacterial taxa in the field. We further discuss whether there may be a trade-off between competitiveness and predation resistance. The substantial variability among taxa in their responses to competition and predation suggests that other factors, for example abiotic conditions and dispersal ability, also influence the local abundance of soil bacteria. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

AB - We assembled communities of bacteria and exposed them to different nutrient concentrations with or without predation by protists. Taxa that were rare in the field were less abundant at low nutrient concentrations than common taxa, independent of predation. However, some taxa that were rare in the field became highly abundant in the assembled communities, especially under ample nutrient availability. This high abundance points at a possible competitive advantage of some rare bacterial taxa under nutrient-rich conditions. In contrast, the abundance of most rare bacterial taxa decreased at low resource availability. Since low resource availability will be the prevailing situation in most soils, our data suggests that under those conditions poor competitiveness for limiting resources may contribute to bacterial rarity. Interestingly, taxa that were rare in the field and most successful under predator-free conditions in the lab also tended to be more reduced by predation than common taxa. This suggests that predation contributes to rarity of bacterial taxa in the field. We further discuss whether there may be a trade-off between competitiveness and predation resistance. The substantial variability among taxa in their responses to competition and predation suggests that other factors, for example abiotic conditions and dispersal ability, also influence the local abundance of soil bacteria. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

KW - national

U2 - 10.1111/1462-2920.14569

DO - 10.1111/1462-2920.14569

M3 - Article

C2 - 30803145

SN - 1462-2912

VL - 21

SP - 1356

EP - 1368

JO - Environmental Microbiology

JF - Environmental Microbiology

IS - 4

ER -