Namib Desert dune/interdune transects exhibit habitat-specific edaphic bacterial communities.

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dc.contributor.authorRonca, S.
dc.contributor.authorRamond, J.-B.
dc.contributor.authorJones, B.E.
dc.contributor.authorSeely, M.
dc.contributor.authorCowan, D.A.
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-31T14:06:33Z
dc.date.available2016-05-31T14:06:33Z
dc.date.issued2015-09
dc.description.abstractThe sand dunes and inter-dune zones of the hyper-arid central Namib Desert represent heterogeneous soil habitats. As little is known about their indigenous edaphic bacterial communities, we aimed to evaluate their diversity and factors of assembly and hypothesized that soil physicochemistry gradients would strongly shape dune/interdune communities. We sampled a total of 125 samples from 5 parallel dune/interdune transects and characterized 21 physico-chemical edaphic parameters coupled with 16S rRNA gene bacterial community fingerprinting using T-RFLP and 454 pyrosequencing. Multivariate analyses of T-RFLP data showed significantly different bacterial communities, related to physico-chemical gradients, in four distinct dune habitats: the dune top, slope, base and interdune zones. Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicon sets showed that each dune zone presented a unique phylogenetic profile, suggesting a high degree of environmental selection. The combined results strongly infer that habitat filtering is an important factor shaping Namib Desert dune bacterial communities, with habitat stability, soil texture and mineral and nutrient contents being the main environmental drivers of bacterial community structures.en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationRonca, S. et al. 2015. Namib Desert dune/interdune transects exhibit habitat-specific edaphic bacterial communities. Frontiers in Microbiology 6, pp. 1-12.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1664-302X (Online)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10539/20408
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherFrontiers Research Foundationen_ZA
dc.subjectArid ecosystemsen_ZA
dc.subjectDeterministic assemblyen_ZA
dc.subjectDune transectsen_ZA
dc.subjectEnvironmental gradienten_ZA
dc.subjectHabitat filtrationen_ZA
dc.subjectOpen soilen_ZA
dc.subjectMICROBIAL COMMUNITIESen_ZA
dc.subjectGURBANTUNGGUT DESERTen_ZA
dc.subjectSEMIARID ECOSYSTEMSen_ZA
dc.subjectSOIL SURFACEen_ZA
dc.subjectSAND SEAen_ZA
dc.subjectDUNEen_ZA
dc.subjectDIVERSITYen_ZA
dc.subjectECOLOGYen_ZA
dc.subjectCHINAen_ZA
dc.subjectPHYSICOCHEMISTRYen_ZA
dc.titleNamib Desert dune/interdune transects exhibit habitat-specific edaphic bacterial communities.en_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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