Forfeiting the priority effect: turnover defines biofilm community succession

• Published in: The ISME Journal Vol. 13; no. 7; pp. 1865 - 1877
• Main Authors: Brislawn, Colin J., Graham, Emily B., Dana, Karl, Ihardt, Peter, Fansler, Sarah J., Chrisler, William B., Cliff, John B., Stegen, James C., Moran, James J., Bernstein, Hans C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.07.2019; Oxford University Press; Springer Nature
• Subjects: 45/23; 45/77; 631/158/855; 631/326/171; Abundance; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Basale biofag: 470; Basic biosciences: 470; Biofilms; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Colonization; Communities; Ecological effects; Ecological succession; Ecology; Ecosystems; Eukaryotes; Evolutionary Biology; Gene sequencing; General microbiology: 472; Generell mikrobiologi: 472; Image resolution; Life Sciences; Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400; Mathematics and natural science: 400; Microbial Ecology; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Microbiota; Microorganisms; rRNA 16S; rRNA 18S; Species; Stable isotopes; Stochastic Processes; Tracers; VDP
• ISSN: 1751-7362; 1751-7370; 1751-7370
• DOI: 10.1038/s41396-019-0396-x

Microbial community succession is a fundamental process that affects underlying functions of almost all ecosystems; yet the roles and fates of the most abundant colonizers are often poorly understood. Does early abundance spur long term persistence? How do deterministic and stochastic processes influence the ecological contribution of colonizers? We performed a succession experiment within a hypersaline ecosystem to investigate how different processes contributed to the turnover of founder species. Bacterial and eukaryotic colonizers were identified during primary succession and tracked through a defined, 79-day biofilm maturation period using 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing in combination with high resolution imaging that utilized stable isotope tracers to evaluate successional patterns of primary producers and nitrogen fixers. The majority of the founder species did not maintain high abundance throughout succession. Species replacement (versus loss) was the dominant process shaping community succession. We also asked if different ecological processes acted on bacteria versus Eukaryotes during succession and found deterministic and stochastic forces corresponded more with microeukaryote and bacterial colonization, respectively. Our results show that taxa and functions belonging to different kingdoms, which share habitat in the tight spatial confines of a biofilm, were influenced by different ecological processes and time scales of succession.