Quantifying the relative roles of selective and neutral processes in defining eukaryotic microbial communities

Morrison-Whittle, Peter and Goddard, Matthew (2015) Quantifying the relative roles of selective and neutral processes in defining eukaryotic microbial communities. The ISME Journal, 9 (9). pp. 2003-2011. ISSN 1751-7362

Full content URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.18

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Quantifying the relative roles of selective and neutral processes in defining eukaryotic microbial communities

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Item Type:Article
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Abstract

We have a limited understanding of the relative contributions of different processes that regulate microbial communities, which are crucial components of both natural and agricultural ecosystems. The contributions of selective and neutral processes in defining community composition are often confounded in field studies because as one moves through space, environments also change. Managed ecosystems provide an excellent opportunity to control for this and evaluate the relative strength of these processes by minimising differences between comparable niches separated at different geographic scales. We use next-generation sequencing to characterize the variance in fungal communities inhabiting adjacent fruit, soil and bark in comparable vineyards across 1000 kms in New Zealand. By compartmentalizing community variation, we reveal that niche explains at least four times more community variance than geographic location. We go beyond merely demonstrating that different communities are found in both different niches and locations by quantifying the forces that define these patterns. Overall, selection unsurprisingly predominantly shapes these microbial communities, but we show the balance of neutral processes also have a significant role in defining community assemblage in eukaryotic microbes.

Keywords:Fungi, NotOAChecked
Subjects:C Biological Sciences > C220 Mycology
C Biological Sciences > C510 Applied Microbiology
C Biological Sciences > C150 Environmental Biology
C Biological Sciences > C181 Biodiversity
D Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects > D711 Agricultural Microbiology
C Biological Sciences > C180 Ecology
C Biological Sciences > C170 Population Biology
D Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects > D400 Agriculture
D Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects > D410 Arable and Fruit Farming
C Biological Sciences > C500 Microbiology
Divisions:College of Science > School of Life Sciences
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ID Code:18473
Deposited On:26 Aug 2015 14:02

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