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Global patterns in the biogeography of bacterial taxa
Author(s) -
Nemergut Diana R.,
Costello Elizabeth K.,
Hamady Micah,
Lozupone Catherine,
Jiang Lin,
Schmidt Steven K.,
Fierer Noah,
Townsend Alan R.,
Cleveland Cory C.,
Stanish Lee,
Knight Rob
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02315.x
Subject(s) - biology , ecology , taxon , biogeography , habitat , abundance (ecology) , phylogenetic tree , relative species abundance , microbial ecology , phylogenetic diversity , metagenomics , community , community structure , biodiversity , evolutionary biology , bacteria , gene , biochemistry , genetics
Summary Bacteria control major nutrient cycles and directly influence plant, animal and human health. However, we know relatively little about the forces shaping their large‐scale ecological ranges. Here, we reveal patterns in the distribution of individual bacterial taxa at multiple levels of phylogenetic resolution within and between Earth's major habitat types. Our analyses suggest that while macro‐scale habitats structure bacterial distribution to some degree, abundant bacteria (i.e. detectable using 16S rRNA gene sequencing methods) are confined to single assemblages. Additionally, we show that the most cosmopolitan taxa are also the most abundant in individual assemblages. These results add to the growing body of data that support that the diversity of the overall bacterial metagenome is tremendous. The mechanisms governing microbial distribution remain poorly understood, but our analyses provide a framework with which to test the importance of macro‐ecological environmental gradients, relative abundance, neutral processes and the ecological strategies of individual taxa in structuring microbial communities.