A stochastic model of epilithic algal succession and patch dynamics in streams

DeNicola, Dean M.; McNair, James N.; Suh, Jiyeon

doi:10.1002/ecs2.3566

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 130 publications

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“…Our results also show that the development of periphyton follows a succession of changes that are potentially governed by species interactions, as it has been previously reported [8, 9, 24, 49]. For instance while, as expected, only C. meneghiniana and A. pyrenaicum were detected at t 1 (Fig.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Synthetic periphyton as a model system to understand species dynamics in complex microbial freshwater communities

Lamprecht¹,

Wagner²,

Derlon³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Phototrophic biofilms, also known as periphyton, drive crucial ecosystem processes and are subject to alterations due to a multitude of biotic and abiotic factors. In this context, understanding species dynamics in periphyton is a fundamental, yet challenging, requirement to accurately predict outcomes on functions and properties of complex communities. To address this challenge, we developed a workflow applying rational design based on existing knowledge on natural periphyton, to successfully obtain a stable, diverse and highly reproducible synthetic periphyton. We show that by using our synthetic community, with a known microbial composition, we are able to monitor dynamics of single species during periphyton development and their specific response to stressors such as increased temperature and herbicides. Importantly, we clearly demonstrate that these responses are mainly driven by species interactions and how they link to changes of community function and structure. Our synthetic periphyton is a powerful tool to perform mechanistic studies on periphyton structural and functional responses, as well as on species propagation, to any biotic and abiotic stressors and their combinations.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Synthetic periphyton as a model system to understand species dynamics in complex microbial freshwater communities

Lamprecht¹,

Wagner²,

Derlon³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our results also show that the development of periphyton follows a succession of changes that are potentially governed by species interactions, as it has been previously reported 8 , 9 , 24 , 49 . For instance while, as expected, only C. meneghiniana and A. pyrenaicum were detected at t 1 (Fig.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

Synthetic periphyton as a model system to understand species dynamics in complex microbial freshwater communities

Lamprecht

Wagner

Derlon

et al. 2022

npj Biofilms Microbiomes

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Phototrophic biofilms, also known as periphyton, are microbial freshwater communities that drive crucial ecological processes in streams and lakes. Gaining a deep mechanistic understanding of the biological processes occurring in natural periphyton remains challenging due to the high complexity and variability of such communities. To address this challenge, we rationally developed a workflow to construct a synthetic community by co-culturing 26 phototrophic species (i.e., diatoms, green algae, and cyanobacteria) that were inoculated in a successional sequence to create a periphytic biofilm on glass slides. We show that this community is diverse, stable, and highly reproducible in terms of microbial composition, function, and 3D spatial structure of the biofilm. We also demonstrate the ability to monitor microbial dynamics at the single species level during periphyton development and how their abundances are impacted by stressors such as increased temperature and a herbicide, singly and in combination. Overall, such a synthetic periphyton, grown under controlled conditions, can be used as a model system for theory testing through targeted manipulation.

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“…This species has a prostrate growth form (Goldsborough, 1994) and quickly colonises substrata (Robinson & Rushforth, 1987). Grazed communities tend to exhibit an increase in species with prostrate growth forms and species that are horizontally attached to substrata (DeNicola et al, 2021; Feminella & Hawkins, 1995; Passy & Larson, 2019). This is because the firm attachment of these diatoms to the substratum reduces grazing compared to pedunculated, floating or colonial forms, which are more easily reached by most grazers (Holomuzki & Biggs, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, grazers have distinctive mouthpieces and their foraging habits disturb the stream bed at differing intensities (Wellnitz & Ward, 2000), creating distinct habitat patches. This behaviour enhances the structural heterogeneity of substrata (Álvarez & Peckarsky, 2005) and causes increased variability in algal species composition among patches (DeNicola et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of mesohabitat, grazing and substratum roughness on locally common and rare diatom species

2023

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Habitat type and grazing are key factors controlling benthic diatom communities. Nonetheless, the strength of grazing may depend on the habitat complexity at fine (substratum roughness) and meso scales (mesohabitat type). The interaction between grazers and physical conditions may thus be an important factor shaping benthic diatom communities. Several investigations have evaluated how habitat type, grazing and substratum roughness separately affect the biomass, species richness and community structure of algal communities. However, how these factors act together remains poorly understood, particularly for sets of common and rare species. The latter is important for understanding whether common and rare species are affected differently by environmental filters at the local scale. We investigated the effects of mesohabitat type, grazer occurrence and substratum roughness as well as their interactions on benthic diatom communities in a split‐split‐plot field experiment consisting of hierarchical treatments: (i) mesohabitat (pools and riffles); (ii) grazer occurrence (presence or absence of grazers >1 cm in size); and (iii) substratum roughness (smooth and rough substrata). We analysed the entire community and also datasets of common and rare species. Here, we define common and rare species based on their abundance–occupancy relationships, with rare species presenting low mean abundance per experimental unit (between 0.025 and 8.2) and low occupancy (between 2.5% and 25%). Substratum roughness was the main factor explaining differences in species richness, with higher species richness found on rough than on smooth substrata for both the complete dataset and for common and rare species. There was evidence that the interactions between mesohabitat and grazer occurrence and between mesohabitat and substratum roughness affected community structure (relative abundances) for the complete dataset and for common species, whereas the three‐way interaction between mesohabitat, grazer and substratum roughness affected community structure of rare species. Our findings emphasise that crevices are important microhabitats that allow the establishment of both common and rare species. Furthermore, our results suggest that physical differences between mesohabitats influenced the effect of grazers on the community structure of common and rare species. For common species, the effects of this interaction were difficult to depict, but we found a change in the second‐most‐common species between mesohabitats and depending on the occurrence of grazers. For rare species, grazers more clearly affected community structure on smooth substrata in riffles than in pools. Our results demonstrate that local patterns of common and rare diatom species resulted from distinct combinations of the evaluated environmental filters. Together, our results highlight how multifactorial field experiments are key to understanding the main environmental filters driving the species richness and community structure of benthic diatom communities.

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A stochastic model of epilithic algal succession and patch dynamics in streams

Cited by 4 publications

References 130 publications

Synthetic periphyton as a model system to understand species dynamics in complex microbial freshwater communities

Synthetic periphyton as a model system to understand species dynamics in complex microbial freshwater communities

Synthetic periphyton as a model system to understand species dynamics in complex microbial freshwater communities

Effects of mesohabitat, grazing and substratum roughness on locally common and rare diatom species

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