Macroecological patterns of archaeal ammonia oxidizers in the Atlantic Ocean

Author(s)
Eva Sintes Elvelin, Daniele De Corte, N. Ouillon, Gerhard Herndl
Abstract

Macroecological patterns are found in animals and plants, but also in micro-organisms. Macroecological and biogeographic distribution patterns in marine Archaea, however, have not been studied yet. Ammonia-oxidizing Archaea (AOA) show a bipolar distribution (i.e. similar communities in the northernmost and the southernmost locations, separated by distinct communities in the tropical and gyral regions) throughout the Atlantic, detectable from epipelagic to upper bathypelagic layers (<2000 m depth). This tentatively suggests an influence of the epipelagic conditions of organic matter production on bathypelagic AOA communities. The AOA communities below 2000 m depth showed a less pronounced biogeographic distribution pattern than the upper 2000 m water column. Overall, AOA in the surface and deep Atlantic waters exhibit distance-decay relationships and follow the Rapoport rule in a similar way as bacterial communities and macroorganisms. This indicates a major role of environmental conditions in shaping the community composition and assembly (species sorting) and no, or only weak limits for dispersal in the oceanic thaumarchaeal communities. However, there is indication of a different strength of these relationships between AOA and Bacteria, linked to the intrinsic differences between these two domains.

Organisation(s)
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
External organisation(s)
Universität Wien, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Journal
Molecular Ecology
Volume
24
Pages
4931-4942
No. of pages
12
ISSN
0962-1083
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13365
Publication date
2015
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
106021 Marine biology
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Genetics, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 14 - Life Below Water
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/macroecological-patterns-of-archaeal-ammonia-oxidizers-in-the-atlantic-ocean(335b854c-1be0-49ab-842e-8275aa2f8c1b).html