Shifts in the Bacterial Population and Ecosystem Functions in Response to Vegetation in the Yellow River Delta Wetlands

• DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00412-20
• Publication Date: 2020-06-08T13:44:33Z
• Authors: Jianing Wang; Jingjing Wang; Zheng Zhang; Zhifeng Li; Zhiguo Zhang; Decun Zhao; Lidong Wang; Feng Lu; Yue-zhong Li
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 2. Zero hunger; carbon cycling; 15. Life on land; Cyanobacteria; Microbiology; QR1-502; 6. Clean water; estuarine coastal wetland; 03 medical and health sciences; Gemmatimonadetes; 13. Climate action; omics analyses; soil bacterial composition; Research Article

Vegetation probably represents the most crucial step for the ecosystem functions of wetlands, but it is unclear how microbial populations and functions shift in pace with the colonization and succession of vegetation. In this study, we found that a Cyanobacteria monospecies genus and a Gemmatimonadetes multispecies genus are fastidiously predominant in the bare and vegetative wetlands of the Yellow River Delta, respectively. Consistently, photosynthesis genes were enriched exclusively in bare land, while genes involved in biological organic carbon metabolism and the cycling of main elements were highly expressed in vegetative wetlands, were mostly included in the MAG of Gemmatimonadetes , and were consistent with soil metabolomic results. Our results provide insight into the adaptive succession of predominant bacterial species and their ecosystem functions in response to the presence of vegetation.