Fluvial network organization imprints on microbial co-occurrence networks

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1411723111
• Publication Date: 2014-08-19T06:18:04Z
• Authors: Stefanie Widder; Katharina Besemer; Gabriel A. Singer; Serena Ceola; Enrico Bertuzzo; Christopher Quince; William T. Sloan; Andrea Rinaldo; Tom J. Battin
• Keywords: ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS; 0301 basic medicine; 570; 550; FLOW; DIVERSITY; stream networks; Environment; DENDRITIC CONNECTIVITY; CENTRALITY; 03 medical and health sciences; 106005 Bioinformatik; Rivers; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Biomass; 14. Life underwater; Ecosystem; BIOPHYSICAL CONTROLS; hydrological regime; ASSOCIATION NETWORKS; Models, Statistical; Microbiota; Biodiversity; 15. Life on land; 13. Climate action; Biofilms; STREAM BIOFILMS; PATTERNS; BIODIVERSITY; Hydrology; 106005 Bioinformatics

SignificanceMicrobial communities orchestrate most biogeochemical processes on Earth. In streams and rivers, surface-attached and matrix-enclosed biofilms dominate microbial life. Despite the relevance of these biofilms for ecosystem processes (e.g., metabolism and nutrient cycling), it remains unclear how features inherent to stream and river networks affect the fundamental organization of biofilm communities in these ecosystems. We combined co-occurrence analyses of biofilms based on next-generation sequencing with a probabilistic hydrological model, and showed how fragementation of microbial co-occurrence networks change across stream networks. Our analyses offer potential insights into the response of microbial community organization and persistence to human pressures that increasingly change the hydrological regime and biodiversity dynamics in fluvial networks.