Bacterial community composition in costal dunes of the Mediterranean along a gradient from the sea shore to the inland

Haggai Wasserstrom,Susanne Kublik,Stefanie Schulz,Michael Schloter,Rachel Wasserstrom,Yosef Steinberger

doi:10.1038/srep40266

Haggai Wasserstrom, Susanne Kublik + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40266

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Jan 11, 2017
Citations: 22	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Bar-Ilan University, Helmholtz Zentrum München

Abstract

Sand dunes are unique ecosystems with distinct features which limited the accumulation of biomass. The distance from seashore affects both the physical properties of the sand dunes and the biota living above- and below ground. The goal of the present study was to determine the effects of the distance from shore to inland on soil bacterial community composition during wet and dry season. We studied a chronosequence of sites close to the eastern Mediterranean coast. Bacterial diversity was assessed using directly extracted DNA from soil samples and 16 S ribosomal RNA gene fingerprinting. Our data indicates a significant influence of season and site on bacterial community structure. We showed that during the wet season soil organic matter, pH and salinity strongly influence bacterial community composition, whereas during the dry period bacterial diversity was mainly driven by the shortage of water at all sites. Consequently diversity was lowest during dry season at dunes close to the shore, whereas during the wet season the higher water content and the reduced salinity at the dunes which are more at the inland induced an increase in diversity, which illustrates the pronounced dynamics of microbial communities in soil over a season mainly at inland dunes.

Highlights

Sand dunes are unique ecosystems with distinct features which limited the accumulation of biomass
In contrast to the relatively stable nature of soil, sand dune ecosystems are dynamic and are mostly in a state of successional change[2,3]. They represent an ecosystem with strong gradients of physical stress which severely limit above and below ground biomass accumulation
No differences were observed between the six sampling sites when comparing samples from the dry- respectively wet season, with the exception of D4, where significantly lower soil moisture content was measured in the wet season compared to the other sites

Summary

Introduction

Sand dunes are unique ecosystems with distinct features which limited the accumulation of biomass. The goal of the present study was to determine the effects of the distance from shore to inland on soil bacterial community composition during wet and dry season. We showed that during the wet season soil organic matter, pH and salinity strongly influence bacterial community composition, whereas during the dry period bacterial diversity was mainly driven by the shortage of water at all sites. In contrast to the relatively stable nature of soil, sand dune ecosystems are dynamic and are mostly in a state of successional change[2,3] They represent an ecosystem with strong gradients of physical stress which severely limit above and below ground biomass accumulation. Soil samples were collected during the dry season (summer) and wet season (winter) from the study area, consisting of shifting and semi-stabilized coastal sand dunes, at six sites along a 4 km transect, from the sea to inland.

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