The response of desert biocrust bacterial communities to hydration-desiccation cycles

Baubin, Capucine; Ran, Noya; Siebner, Hagar; Gillor, Osnat

doi:10.5194/soil-2021-88

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Within days, changes in the labeled bacterial community composition and abundance were observed, indicating growth (Angel and Conrad, 2013). Similarly, biocrusts collected in the Negev Desert during a rain event and subsequent desiccation, demonstrated an increase in Cyanobacteria and decrease in Actinobacteria abundance (Baubin et al, 2021), implying selective proliferation of bacterial taxa in the hydrated biocrust. In other H2 18 O SIP assays on soil bacterial communities, a quick response to re-wetting was observed, and bacterial growth was evident within 24 to 72 hours of incubation (Blazewicz et al, 2014, Aanderud et al, 2015.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Only a minority of bacteria grow after wetting in both natural and post-mining biocrusts in a hyperarid, phosphate mine

Gabay

Petrová²,

Gillor³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are key contributors to desert ecosystem functions; therefore, biocrust restoration following mechanical disturbance is imperative. In the Negev Desert hyperarid regions, phosphate mining has been practiced for over 60 years, destroying soil habitats, and fragmenting the landscape. To understand the effects of mining activity on soil health, we previously characterized the biocrust communities in four phosphate mining sites over spatial (post-mining and natural plots) and temporal (2–10 years since restoration) scales. We showed that bacterial abundance, richness, and diversity in natural plots were significantly higher than in post-mining plots, regardless of temporal scale. In this study, we selected one mining site and used DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) to identify which bacteria grow in post-mining and natural biocrusts. Since biocrust communities activate only after wetting, we incubated the biocrusts with H218O for 96 hours under ambient conditions. We then evaluated the physicochemical soil properties, chlorophyll a concentrations, activation, and functional potential of the biocrusts. The DNA-SIP assay revealed low bacterial activity in both plot types and no significant differences in the proliferated communities’ composition when comparing post-mining and natural biocrusts. We further found no significant differences in the microbial functional potential, photosynthetic rates, or soil properties. Our results suggest that growth of hyperarid biocrust bacteria after wetting is minimal. We hypothesize that due to the harsh climatic conditions, during wetting bacteria devote their meager resources to prepare for the coming drought, by focusing on damage repair, and organic compound synthesis and storage rather than on growth. These low growth rates contribute to the sluggish recovery of desert biocrusts following major disturbances such as mining. Therefore, our findings highlight the need for implementing active restoration practices following mining.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Only a minority of bacteria grow after wetting in both natural and post-mining biocrusts in a hyperarid, phosphate mine

Gabay

Petrová²,

Gillor³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…To overcome environmental limitations biocrust organisms have developed several strategies such as extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) that help them to retain water (Mugnai et al, 2018), UV-protecting pigments such as scytonemin (Miralles et al, 2017) or specific compounds including sucrose and trehalose (Xin et al, 2015;Baubin et al, 2021) that minimize metabolic desiccation stress. Most of these strategies have not yet been fully explored, and a plethora of novel genes and metabolites is expected from biocrust-forming microorganisms from extreme environments which can be used to obtain a wide variety of products using biotechnological processes (Lakatos and Strieht, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

Jung

Lehnert

Bendix

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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The grit crust is a recently discovered, novel type of biocrust made of prokaryotic cyanobacteria, eukaryotic green algae, fungi, lichens and other microbes that grow around and within granitoid stone pebbles of about 6 mm diameter in the Coastal Range of the Atacama Desert, Chile. The microbial community is very well adapted towards the extreme conditions of the Atacama Desert, such as the highest irradiation of the planet, strong temperature amplitudes and steep wet-dry cycles. It also has several other striking features making this biocrust unique compared to biocrusts known from other arid biomes on Earth. It has already been shown that the grit crust mediates various bio-weathering activities in its natural habitat. These activities prime soil for higher organisms in a way that can be envisioned as a proxy for general processes shaping even extra-terrestrial landscapes. This mini-review highlights the potential of the grit crust as a model for astrobiology in terms of extra-terrestrial microbial colonization and biotechnological applications that support human colonization of planets.

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Only a minority of bacteria grow after wetting in both natural and post-mining biocrusts in a hyperarid phosphate mine

Gabay¹,

Petrová²,

Gillor³

et al. 2023

SOIL

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Abstract. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are key contributors to desert ecosystem functions, therefore, biocrust restoration following mechanical disturbances is imperative. In the Negev Desert hyperarid regions, phosphate mining has been practiced for over 60 years, destroying soil habitats and fragmenting the landscape. In this study, we selected one mining site restored in 2007, and we used DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) to identify which bacteria grow in post-mining and adjacent natural biocrusts. Since biocrust communities activate only after wetting, we incubated the biocrusts with H218O for 96 h under ambient conditions. We then evaluated the physicochemical soil properties, chlorophyll a concentrations, activation, and functional potential of the biocrusts. The DNA-SIP assay revealed low bacterial activity in both plot types and no significant differences in the proliferated communities' composition when comparing post-mining and natural biocrusts. We further found no significant differences in the microbial functional potential, photosynthetic rates, or soil properties. Our results suggest that growth of hyperarid biocrust bacteria after wetting is minimal. We hypothesize that due to the harsh climatic conditions, during wetting, bacteria devote their meager resources to prepare for the coming drought, by focusing on damage repair and organic compound synthesis and storage rather than on growth. These low growth rates contribute to the sluggish recovery of desert biocrusts following major disturbances such as mining. Therefore, our findings highlight the need for implementing active restoration practices following mining.

show abstract

The response of desert biocrust bacterial communities to hydration-desiccation cycles

Cited by 3 publications

References 24 publications

Only a minority of bacteria grow after wetting in both natural and post-mining biocrusts in a hyperarid, phosphate mine

Only a minority of bacteria grow after wetting in both natural and post-mining biocrusts in a hyperarid, phosphate mine

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

Only a minority of bacteria grow after wetting in both natural and post-mining biocrusts in a hyperarid phosphate mine

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