Validating biogeographical theory for protists: Distribution pattern in Europe
Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
Final Report Abstract
Distinct patterns of geographical distribution in plants and animals have interested naturalists and biologists ever since Humboldt and Darwin. Microorganisms have mostly been neglected in this respect and been considered to be omnipresent. The advent of molecular techniques to characterize morphologically indistinguishable taxa has revolutionized the scale at which we nowadays can infer past dispersal processes. This extends especially to protists and bacteria. Here, we analyzed one of the largest datasets for the genetic diversity of protists with about 250 lakes densely sampled across Europe from southern Spain and Greece to Scandinavia and from lowlands to high altitudes. We employed Illumina High-Throughput- Sequencing of rDNA and various methods to detect distribution patterns and infer processes. By these means, we were able to detect biogeographic provinces for European protists, which are, however, less distinct than in larger animals. Thus, dispersal and anthropogenic activity seem to have a greater influence on distribution of protists than for larger organisms. Consequently, refugia in southern Europe, such as those seen in larger organisms, have a lesser role nowadays in protists and we see relatively distinct communities south and north of the Alps. Nevertheless, we could determine some taxon-specific patterns, such as areas of high diversity for Dinophyceae in the Baltic region or Chrysophyceae in Scandinavia, which allows specialists in the future to focus in more detail on subgroups of protists in especially diverse regions. Less important for the explanation of diversity are also alpine areas. Alpine specialists evolve repeatedly from lowland taxa and do not speciate as fast as lowland taxa. We compared patterns also with bacteria and started to analyze seasonal variation in protist diversity. The project provided the basis for further analyses of specific protist groups in Europe and also allow characterization of the diversity of protist communities on European scale. This is important for conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
Publications
- (2018) Genome size of chrysophytes varies with cell size and nutritional mode. Organisms Div Evol 18:163-173
Olefeld JL, Majda S, Albach DC, Marks S, Boenigk J
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-018-0365-7) - (2018) Geographic distance and mountain ranges structure freshwater protist communities on a European scale. Metabarcoding and Metagenomics 2: e21519
Boenigk J, Wodniok S, Bock C, Beisser D, Hempel C, Grossmann L, Lange A, Jensen M
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3897/mbmg.2.21519) - (2018) Synchrony of Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic Planktonic Communities in Three Seasonally Sampled Austrian Lakes. Frontiers Microbiol 9:1290
Bock C, Salcher M, Jensen M, Pandey RV, Boenigk J
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01290) - (2019) Intraspecific variation in protists: clues for microevolution from Poteriospumella lacustris (Chrysophyceae). Genome Biol Evol 11: 2492–2504
Majda S, Boenigk J, Beisser D
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz171) - (2019) Putatively asexual chrysophytes have meiotic genes: evidence from transcriptomic data. PeerJ 6: e5894
Kraus D, Chi J, Boenigk J, Beisser D, Graupner N, Dunthorn M
(See online at https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5894) - (2020) Centers of endemism of freshwater protists deviate from pattern of taxon richness on a continental scale. Scientific Rep 10:14431
Olefeld JL, Bock C, Jensen M, Vogt JC, Sieber G, Albach D, Boenigk J
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-71332-z) - (2020) Ecological Differentiation in two major freshwater bacterial taxa along environmental gradients. Front. Microbiol.
Nuy JK, Hoetzinger M, Hahn MW, Beisser D, Boenigk J
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00154) - (2020) Factors shaping community patterns of protists and bacteria on a European scale. Environ Microbiol 22:2243-2260
Bock C, Jensen M, Forster D, Marks S, Nuy J, Psenner R, Beisser D, Boenigk J
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14992)
