Abstract
We employed a temporal sampling approach to understand how the microbial diversity may shift in the north arm of Great Salt Lake, Utah, U.S. To determine how variations in seasonal environmental factors affect microbial communities, length heterogeneity PCR fingerprinting was performed using consensus primers for the domain Bacteria, and the haloarchaea. The archaeal fingerprints showed similarities during 2003 and 2004, but this diversity changed during the remaining two years of the study, 2005 and 2006. We also performed molecular phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA genes of the whole microbial community to characterize the taxa in the samples. Our results indicated that in the domain, Bacteria, the Salinibacter group dominated the populations in all samplings. However, in the case of Archaea, as noted by LIBSHUFF for phylogenetic relatedness analysis, many of the temporal communities were distinct from each other, and changes in community composition did not track with environmental parameters. Around 20–23 different phylotypes, as revealed by rarefaction, predominated at different periods of the year. Some phylotypes, such as Haloquadradum, were present year-round although they changed in their abundance in different samplings, which may indicate that these species are affected by biotic factors, such as nutrients or viruses, that are independent of seasonal temperature dynamics.
Highlights
Great Salt Lake is bisected by a railroad causeway, which creates virtually two lakes, each with distinct environmental conditions [1]
The numbers of colony-forming units (CFU) counted ranged from 103 to 106, with the lowest number observed in June
Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake, and the lake elevation is a function of precipitation and evaporation, which varies significantly over time (Table 1)
Summary
Great Salt Lake is bisected by a railroad causeway, which creates virtually two lakes, each with distinct environmental conditions [1]. The south arm of this terminal lake ranges from 11% to 15%. Salinity [2] as it receives fresh water input from the runoff of snowmelt in the Wasatch mountain range. The isolated north arm has little fresh water input, save precipitation. The north arm salinity is often at saturation (up to 30%). Due to the nature of a terminal lake with no outflow, Great Salt Lake is subjected to extreme variations in environmental conditions. The elevated desert biome results in seasonal variations of water temperature ranges from 0.5 °C in January to 26.7 °C in July [3] and up to 45 °C in the shallow margins [4]
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