Same same but different: ecological niche partitioning of planktonic freshwater prokaryotes

Submitted: 3 June 2013
Accepted: 30 July 2013
Published: 26 August 2013
Abstract Views: 4240
PDF: 1685
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Lakes and ponds harbour a high number of diverse planktonic microorganisms that are centrally involved in biochemical cycles and aquatic food webs. Although the open water body (pelagial) seems to be a uniform and unstructured environment, ecological niche separation of coexisting microbial taxa might be triggered by limiting resources (bottom-up control) and mortality factors (top-down control), leading to distinct spatial and temporal distribution patterns of different microbes. This review gives an overview of the most abundant prokaryotic populations by grouping them in specific ecological guilds based on their life strategies. Defense specialists such as very small Actinobacteria or big filamentous bacteria mostly occur at times of highest grazing pressure by heterotrophic nanoflagellates, the main consumers of bacteria. Oligotrophic ultramicrobacteria, on the other hand, seem to be mostly adapted to nutrient depleted water layers during summer stratification, while opportunistic bacteria profit from material released during short-living algal blooms. Seasonal changes in abiotic and biotic factors may be the main causes for periodic reoccurring density maxima of different prokaryotes populations in the pelagial of temperate lakes, reflected in a distinct seasonality of the freshwater bacterioplankton.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Michaela M. Salcher, University of Zurich
Limnological Station

How to Cite

Salcher, Michaela M. 2013. “Same Same But Different: Ecological Niche Partitioning of Planktonic Freshwater Prokaryotes”. Journal of Limnology 73 (s1). https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2014.813.

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

List of Cited By :

Crossref logo