title: Distance-decay relationships partially determine diversity patterns of phyllosphere bacteria on Tamarix trees across the Sonoran Desert [corrected].
abstract: Dispersal limitation in phyllosphere communities was measured on the leaf surfaces of salt-excreting Tamarix trees, which offer unique, discrete habitats for microbial assemblages. We employed 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing to measure bacterial community dissimilarity on leaves of spatially dispersed Tamarix specimens in sites with uniform climatic conditions across the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States. Our analyses revealed diverse bacterial communities with four dominant phyla that exhibited differential effects of environmental and geographic variables. Geographical distance was the most important parameter that affected community composition, particularly that of betaproteobacteria, which displayed a statistically significant, distance-decay relationship.
authors: Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors: Omri M
authors: OM
authors: Finkel
authors: Adrien Y
authors: AY
authors: Burch
authors: Tal
authors: T
authors: Elad
authors: Susan M
authors: SM
authors: Huse
authors: Steven E
authors: SE
authors: Lindow
authors: Anton F
authors: AF
authors: Post
authors: Shimshon
authors: S
authors: Belkin
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D058448:Biota; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D003889:Desert Climate; D058974:Phylogeography; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015206:Southwestern United States; D032363:Tamaricaceae / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S