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Abstract
Bacterial degradation of organic compounds is an important ecosystem function with relevance to, e.g., the cycling of elements or the degradation of organic contaminants. It remains an open question, however, to which extent ecosystems are able to maintain such biodegradation function under recurrent disturbances (functional resistance) and how this is related to the bacterial biomass abundance. In this paper, we use a numerical simulation approach to systematically analyze the dynamic response of a microbial population to recurrent disturbances of different spatial distribution. The spatially explicit model considers microbial degradation, growth, dispersal, and spatial networks that facilitate bacterial dispersal mimicking effects of mycelial networks in nature. We find: (i) There is a certain capacity for high resistance of biodegradation performance to recurrent disturbances. (ii) If this resistance capacity is exceeded, spatial zones of different biodegradation performance develop, ranging from no or reduced to even increased performance. (iii) Bacterial biomass and biodegradation dynamics respond inversely to the spatial fragmentation of disturbances: overall biodegradation performance improves with increasing fragmentation, but bacterial biomass declines. (iv) Bacterial dispersal networks can enhance functional resistance against recurrent disturbances, mainly by reactivating zones in the core of disturbed areas, even though this leads to an overall reduction of bacterial biomass.
Highlights
Microbial ecosystems provide a variety of services ranging from the cycling of elements (e.g., C or N), to the recycling of nutrients and the degradation of contaminants
The overall biodegradation performance and the bacterial biomass approach a constant mean level over the course of time (Figure 2). This new quasisteady state levels of biodegradation performance and bacterial biomass serves as a measure for long-term resistance
Biodegradation performance increases with increasing fragmentation of the disturbances, whereas bacterial biomass decreases
Summary
Microbial ecosystems provide a variety of services ranging from the cycling of elements (e.g., C or N), to the recycling of nutrients and the degradation of contaminants. This includes the biodegradation of organic compounds in terrestrial environments. When disturbance events recur repeatedly, the cumulative effects may impact the long-term stability with respect to structure and function (Ho et al, 2015). It is, unknown to which extent microbial ecosystems maintain their biodegradation performance under such recurring disturbances and which factors govern this response. We define the ability of the system to sustain its function under recurrent disturbances as functional long-term resistance
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