title: Autogenic succession and deterministic recovery following disturbance in soil bacterial communities.
abstract: The response of bacterial communities to environmental change may affect local to global nutrient cycles. However the dynamics of these communities following disturbance are poorly understood, given that they are often evaluated over macro-ecological time scales and end-point measurements. In order to understand the successional trajectory of soil bacterial communities following disturbances and the mechanisms controlling these dynamics at a scale relevant for these organisms, we subjected soil microcosms to a heat disturbance and followed the community composition of active bacteria over 50 days. The disturbance imposed a strong selective pressure that persisted for up to 10 days, after which the importance of stochastic processes increased. Three successional stages were detected: a primary response in which surviving taxa increased in abundance; a secondary response phase during which community dynamics slowed down, and a stability phase (after 29 days), during which the community tended towards its original composition. Phylogenetic turnover patterns indicated that the community experienced stronger deterministic selection during recovery. Thus, soil bacterial communities, despite their extreme diversity and functional redundancy, respond to disturbances like many macro-ecological systems and exhibit path-dependent, autogenic dynamics during secondary succession. These results highlight the role of autogenic factors and successional dynamics in microbial recovery.
authors.affiliation: Genomic Research in Ecology and Evolution in Nature (GREEN), Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, Groningen, 9747 AG, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stephanie D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Jurburg
authors.affiliation: Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Building 1, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.affiliation: Earth and Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Stegen
authors.affiliation: Microbial Ecology Center, INRA (UMR 1418), CNRS, Université Lyon1, Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Le Roux
authors.affiliation: Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Building 1, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Priemé
authors.affiliation: Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Building 1, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Søren J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Sørensen
authors.affiliation: Genomic Research in Ecology and Evolution in Nature (GREEN), Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, Groningen, 9747 AG, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Joana Falcão
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Salles
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D058448:Biota / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006358:Hot Temperature; D012988:Soil Microbiology