title: Global patterns in the biogeography of bacterial taxa.
abstract: Bacteria control major nutrient cycles and directly influence plant, animal and human health. However, we know relatively little about the forces shaping their large-scale ecological ranges. Here, we reveal patterns in the distribution of individual bacterial taxa at multiple levels of phylogenetic resolution within and between Earth's major habitat types. Our analyses suggest that while macro-scale habitats structure bacterial distribution to some degree, abundant bacteria (i.e. detectable using 16S rRNA gene sequencing methods) are confined to single assemblages. Additionally, we show that the most cosmopolitan taxa are also the most abundant in individual assemblages. These results add to the growing body of data that support that the diversity of the overall bacterial metagenome is tremendous. The mechanisms governing microbial distribution remain poorly understood, but our analyses provide a framework with which to test the importance of macro-ecological environmental gradients, relative abundance, neutral processes and the ecological strategies of individual taxa in structuring microbial communities.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Diana R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Nemergut
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Elizabeth K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Costello
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Micah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamady
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lozupone
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Steven K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Noah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fierer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Alan R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Townsend
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Cory C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Cleveland
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stanish
authors.affiliation: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research,Environmental Studies Program,Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.Center for Genome Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Knight
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods; D017753:Ecosystem; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005843:Geography; D054892:Metagenome; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S