Biogeography of microbial communities in high-latitude ecosystems: Contrasting drivers for methanogens, methanotrophs and global prokaryotes
Seppey, Christophe V. W.
UiT The Arctic University of Tromso
Cabrol, Lea
Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD)
Thalasso, Frederic
CINVESTAV - Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional
Gandois, Laure
Universite de Toulouse
Lavergne, Celine
Universidad de Playa Ancha
Aguilar-Munoz, Polette
Universidad de Playa Ancha
Chamy, Rolando
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso
Dellagnezze, Bruna Martins
Instituto de Investigaciones Biologicas Clemente Estable Uruguay
Etchebehere, Claudia
Instituto de Investigaciones Biologicas Clemente Estable Uruguay
Fochesatto, Gilberto J.
University of Alaska System
Gerardo-Nieto, Oscar
CINVESTAV - Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional
Murray, Alison
Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE)
Sweetlove, Maxime
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Tananaev, Nikita
Russian Academy of Sciences
Teisserenc, Roman
Universite de Toulouse
Tveit, Alexander T.
UiT The Arctic University of Tromso
Van de Putte, Anton
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Svenning, Mette M.
UiT The Arctic University of Tromso
Barret, Maialen
Universite de Toulouse
Journal
Environmental Microbiology
ISSN
1462-2912
1462-2920
Open Access
hybrid
Volume
25
Start page
3364
End page
3386
Methane-cycling is becoming more important in high-latitude ecosystems as global warming makes permafrost organic carbon increasingly available. We explored 387 samples from three high-latitudes regions (Siberia, Alaska and Patagonia) focusing on mineral/organic soils (wetlands, peatlands, forest), lake/pond sediment and water. Physicochemical, climatic and geographic variables were integrated with 16S rDNA amplicon sequences to determine the structure of the overall microbial communities and of specific methanogenic and methanotrophic guilds. Physicochemistry (especially pH) explained the largest proportion of variation in guild composition, confirming species sorting (i.e., environmental filtering) as a key mechanism in microbial assembly. Geographic distance impacted more strongly beta diversity for (i) methanogens and methanotrophs than the overall prokaryotes and, (ii) the sediment habitat, suggesting that dispersal limitation contributed to shape the communities of methane-cycling microorganisms. Bioindicator taxa characterising different ecological niches (i.e., specific combinations of geographic, climatic and physicochemical variables) were identified, highlighting the importance of Methanoregula as generalist methanogens. Methylocystis and Methylocapsa were key methanotrophs in low pH niches while Methylobacter and Methylomonadaceae in neutral environments. This work gives insight into the present and projected distribution of methane-cycling microbes at high latitudes under climate change predictions, which is crucial for constraining their impact on greenhouse gas budgets.