Microbial Assemblage Dynamics Within the American Alligator Nesting Ecosystem: a Comparative Approach Across Ecological
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ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
Microbial Assemblage Dynamics Within the American Alligator Nesting Ecosystem: a Comparative Approach Across Ecological Scales Alejandro Grajal-Puche 1 & Christopher M. Murray 2,3 & Matthew Kearley 4 & Mark Merchant 5 & Christopher Nix 6 & Jonathan K. Warner 7 & Donald M. Walker 1 Received: 5 February 2020 / Accepted: 5 May 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Understanding the ecological processes that shape species assemblage patterns is central to community ecology. The effects of ecological processes on assemblage patterns are scale-dependent. We used metabarcoding and shotgun sequencing to determine bacterial taxonomic and functional assemblage patterns among varying defined focal scales (micro-, meso-, and macroscale) within the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) nesting microbiome. We correlate bacterial assemblage patterns among eight nesting compartments within and proximal to alligator nests (micro-), across 18 nests (meso-), and between 4 geographic sampling sites (macro-), to determine which ecological processes may drive bacterial assemblage patterns within the nesting environment. Among all focal scales, bacterial taxonomic and functional richness (α-diversity) did not statistically differ. In contrast, bacterial assemblage structure (β-diversity) was unique across all focal scales, whereas functional pathways were redundant within nests and across geographic sites. Considering these observed scale-based patterns, taxonomic bacterial composition may be governed by unique environmental filters and dispersal limitations relative to microbial functional attributes within the alligator nesting environment. These results advance pattern-process dynamics within the field of microbial community ecology and describe processes influencing the American alligator nest microbiome. Keywords Alligator mississippiensis . Community ecology . Functional redundancy . Taxonomic diversity . Microbial ecology . Microbiome
Introduction Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-020-01522-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Donald M. Walker [email protected] 1
Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA
2
Department of Biological Sciences, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA 70402, USA
3
Biology Department, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN 38505, USA
4
Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
5
Department of Chemistry, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA 70609, USA
6
Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, Montgomery, AL 36130, USA
7
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Port Arthur, TX 77640, USA
Disentangling the ecological processes that shape species assemblage patterns is central to community ecology [1, 2]. Macarthur (1969) [3] proposed that communities are structured by selective pressures. Mo
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