Seasonal Changes in Diversity and Metabolic Potential of Freshwater Microbial Communities in an Arctic Lake

Abstract:

Ecologists have studied the diversity of microbial communities worldwide, largely motivated by the hypothesis that diversity is an important determinant of ecosystem function. However, direct links between microbial diversity and ecosystem function are difficult to demonstrate. Here we use a combination of 16S amplicon sequencing and metagenomic sequencing to determine whether seasonal shifts in microbial diversity correspond to similar shifts in functional potential in Toolik Lake, a deep kettle lake in the Alaskan Arctic. We found that microbial diversity displays a repeating annual cycle set to the date of the spring snowmelt, with the most dramatic shifts in diversity occurring each year during the ten weeks following the onset of snowmelt. Similarly, the functional character of these communities appears to repeat annually, with season a better predictor of gene abundance than year among several gene families. Further, during the ten-week period after spring snowmelt, abundances of several gene families changed substantially. For example, while genes involved in photosynthesis were more abundant in summer than in winter, genes involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds were more abundant in winter than in summer. This pairing of shifts in diversity and metagenomic data suggests that microbial diversity is related to ecosystem function in a predictable way. Seasonally shifting environmental conditions likely drive transitions in both diversity and functional potential of Toolik Lake microbial communities, suggesting that both diversity and function will change in response to long-term shifts in environmental conditions such as those brought on by climate change.