title: Seasonal changes in dominant bacterial taxa from acidic peatlands of the Atlantic Rain Forest.
abstract: The acidic peatlands of southern Brazil are essential for maintenance of the Atlantic Rain Forest, one of the 25 hot-spots of biodiversity in the world. While these ecosystems are closely linked to conservation issues, their microbial community ecology and composition remain unknown. In this work, histosol samples were collected from three acidic peatland regions during dry and rainy seasons and their chemical and microbial characteristics were evaluated. Culturing and culture-independent approaches based on SSU rRNA gene pyrosequencing were used to survey the bacterial community and to identify environmental factors affecting the biodiversity and microbial metabolic potential of the Brazilian peatlands. All acidic peatlands were dominated by the Acidobacteria phylum (56-22%) followed by Proteobacteria (28-12%). The OTU richness of these phyla and the abundance of their Gp1, Gp2, Gp3, Gp13, Rhodospirillales and Caulobacteriales members varied according to the period of collection and significantly correlated with the rainy season. However, despite changes in acidobacterial and proteobacterial communities, rainfall did not affect the microbial metabolic potential of the southern Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest peatlands, as judged by the metabolic capabilities of the microbial community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, CEP 84030-900, Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: mazeretto@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Rafael Mazer
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Etto
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19046, CEP 81531-990, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: cruzmagalha@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Leonardo Magalhães
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Agrobiologia, CNPAB, Rodovia BR 465, Km 7, CEP 23891-000, Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: edersonjesus@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ederson
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: da Conceição Jesus
authors.affiliation: Department of Structural and Molecular Biology and Genetics, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, CEP 84030-900, Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: carolwgalvao@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Carolina Weigert
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Galvão
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Sciences, Universidade Federal do Paraná, CEP 80210-170, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: fgalvao@ufpr.br.
authors.forename: Franklin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Galvão
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19046, CEP 81531-990, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: souzaem@ufpr.br.
authors.forename: Emanuel Maltempi
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19046, CEP 81531-990, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: fpedrosa@ufpr.br.
authors.forename: Fábio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de Oliveira Pedrosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19046, CEP 81531-990, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: steffens@ufpr.br.
authors.forename: Maria Berenice
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Reynaud Steffens
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D058448:Biota; D001938:Brazil; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D065947:Rainforest; D012621:Seasons; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S
keywords: CLSU; Microbial ecology; SSU rRNA; Southern peatland