Flow cytometric monitoring of bacterioplankton phenotypic diversity predicts high population-specific feeding rates by invasive dreissenid mussels

5 years ago

Flow cytometric monitoring of bacterioplankton phenotypic diversity predicts high population-specific feeding rates by invasive dreissenid mussels

Jasmine Heyse, Henry A. Vanderploeg, Vincent J. Denef, Nico Boon, Marian L. Schmidt, Ruben Props

Species invasion is an important disturbance to ecosystems worldwide, yet knowledge about the impacts of invasive species on bacterial communities remains sparse. Using a novel approach, we simultaneously detected phenotypic and derived taxonomic change in a natural bacterioplankton community when subjected to feeding pressure by quagga mussels, a widespread aquatic invasive species. We detected a significant decrease in diversity within one hour of feeding, and a total diversity loss of 11.6 ± 4.1 % after 3h. This loss of microbial diversity was caused by the selective removal of high nucleic acid (HNA) populations (29 ± 5% after 3h). We were able to track the community diversity at high temporal resolution by calculating phenotypic diversity estimates from flow cytometry data of minute amounts of sample. Through parallel flow cytometry and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing analysis of environments spanning a broad diversity range, we showed that the two approaches resulted in highly correlated diversity measures and captured the same seasonal and lake-specific patterns in community composition. Based on our results, we predict that selective feeding by IDMs directly impacts the microbial component of the carbon cycle, as it may drive bacterioplankton communities toward less diverse and potentially less productive states. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.13953