MM52A:
Functional, Ecological, and Evolutionary Implications of Microdiversity and Intraspecific Variability in Aquatic Microorganisms III


Session ID#: 37443

Session Description:
Many aquatic microorganisms exist as diverse genetic clusters, rather than clone-like populations. However, the implications of this variability remain unclear. In some instances, this microheterogeneity has been linked to differences in distribution and function, known as ecotypes. We expect that intra-specific trait variability plays an important role in determining the outcome of inter-specific competition, and hence overall biodiversity. On one hand, intra-specific variability can cause niche overlapping, thereby reducing diversity, at least as systems approach steady state. On the other hand, intra-specific variability can also reduce fitness differences, thereby lengthening extinction timescales and sustaining diversity in dynamic environments. In general, however, it remains unclear how aquatic microorganisms diversify and evolve into genetically and ecologically different populations.

Recent methodological advances including high throughput sequencing, informatics, and metabolomics are being applied to investigate genetic variation, evolutionary events, and functional differentiation within sets of closely related microorganisms. Such studies seek to understand the influence of microdiversity on the stability, resilience, biodiversity, and function of ecosystems. Submissions to this session investigate the impact of microdiversity on the ecology, evolution, and function of populations of microorganisms in aquatic systems using any approach, including theoretical analysis, numerical modeling, observational and experimental studies.

Primary Chair:  Dr. Sherwood Lan Smith, PhD, Advanced Institute for Marine Ecosystem Change [WPI-AIMEC], JAMSTEC, Yokohama, Japan
Co-chairs:  Michael S Rappe, Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Kāneʻohe, United States, Bingzhang Chen, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, RCGC, Yokohama, Japan and David Needham, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, United States
Moderators:  Bingzhang Chen, JAMSTEC Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, RCGC, Yokohama, Japan, Dr. Sherwood Lan Smith, PhD, JAMSTEC, Yokohama, Japan, David Needham, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, United States and Michael S Rappe, Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Kāneʻohe, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  David Needham, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, United States
Index Terms:

4813 Ecological prediction [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
4815 Ecosystems, structure, dynamics, and modeling [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
4817 Food webs, structure, and dynamics [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
4858 Population dynamics and ecology [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
Cross-Topics:
  • B - Biodiversity
  • ES - Ecology and Social Interactions
  • OM - Ocean Modeling

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

SAR11 Amino Acid Variants are Governed by Natural Selection (304925)
A. Murat Eren1,2, Tom O. Delmont2, Evan Kiefl3, Ozsel Kilinc4, Ismail Uysal4, Michael S Rappe5 and Stephen J Giovannoni6, (1)Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Center for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven, Germany, (2)University of Chicago, Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States, (3)University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States, (4)University of South Florida Tampa, Electrical Engineering, Tampa, FL, United States, (5)Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Kāneʻohe, United States, (6)Oregon State University, Department of Microbiology, Corvallis, OR, United States
Microdiversity of cyanobacteria reveals hidden spatial and temporal niche partitioning in coastal and open ocean ecosystems (325069)
Zackary I Johnson1, Alyse Larkin2, Dana Hunt1, Ford Fishman3 and Xue Rui3, (1)Duke University, Duke University Marine Lab, Beaufort, United States, (2)Duke University, United States, (3)Duke University, NC, United States
Pangenome-scale metabolic network reconstruction of Prochlorococcus (315301)
John Casey, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Oceanography, Honolulu, HI, United States and Christian Lorenz Mueller, Simons Foundation, New York City, NY, United States
Environmental drivers of seasonal microdiversity patterns in a temperate Synechococcus population (320703)
Kristen Rachell Hunter-Cevera1, Michael Neubert2, Emily Peacock2 and Heidi M Sosik2, (1)Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (2)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Diversity and abundance of flavin-dependent monooxygenases in SAR202 clade bacteria revealed by single-cell genomics and metagenomics (315728)
Jimmy Saw, George Washington University, Department of Biological Sciences, Washington, United States, Zachary Landry, Oregon State University, OR, United States, Takuro Nunoura, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka, Japan, Ramunas Stepanauskas, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME, United States, Craig A Carlson, University of California Santa Barbara, Marine Science Institute/Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, Santa Barbara, United States and Stephen J Giovannoni, Oregon State University, Department of Microbiology, Corvallis, OR, United States
Microdiversity following a phytoplankton bloom: marker genes and metagenomics reveals ecologically-relevant dynamics at strain-level (325169)
David Needham, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, United States, Rohan Sachdeva, University of Southern California, Marine Environmental Biology, Los Angeles, CA, United States and Jed A Fuhrman, University of Southern California, Department of Biological Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States

See more of: Microbiology and Molecular Ecology