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Significant habitat effects influence protist fitness evidence for local adaptation from acidic mining lakes

  • It is currently controversially discussed if the same freshwater microorganisms occur worldwide wherever their required habitats are realized, i.e., without any adaptation to local conditions below the species level. We performed laboratory experiments with flagellates and ciliates from three acidic mining lakes (AML, pH similar to 2.7) to investigate if similar habitats may affect similar organisms differently. Such man-made lakes provide suitable ecosystem models to test for the significance of strong habitat selection. To this end, we analyzed the growth response of three protist taxa (three strains of the phytoflagellate Chlamydomonas acidophila, two isolates of the phytoflagellate Ochromonas and two species of the ciliate genus Oxytricha) by exposing them to lake water of their origin and from the two other AML in a cross-factorial design. Population growth rates were measured as a proxy for their fitness. Results revealed significant effects of strain, lake (= habitat), and strain X habitat interaction. In the environmentallyIt is currently controversially discussed if the same freshwater microorganisms occur worldwide wherever their required habitats are realized, i.e., without any adaptation to local conditions below the species level. We performed laboratory experiments with flagellates and ciliates from three acidic mining lakes (AML, pH similar to 2.7) to investigate if similar habitats may affect similar organisms differently. Such man-made lakes provide suitable ecosystem models to test for the significance of strong habitat selection. To this end, we analyzed the growth response of three protist taxa (three strains of the phytoflagellate Chlamydomonas acidophila, two isolates of the phytoflagellate Ochromonas and two species of the ciliate genus Oxytricha) by exposing them to lake water of their origin and from the two other AML in a cross-factorial design. Population growth rates were measured as a proxy for their fitness. Results revealed significant effects of strain, lake (= habitat), and strain X habitat interaction. In the environmentally most adverse AML, all three protist taxa were locally adapted. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that (1) the same habitat may affect strains of the same species differently and that (2) similar habitats may harbor ecophysiologically different strains or species. These results contradict the 'everything is everywhere' paradigm.show moreshow less

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Author details:Thomas Weisse, Thomas U. BerendonkGND, Norbert KamjunkeORCiDGND, Michael Moser, U. Scheffel, P. Stadler, Guntram WeithoffORCiDGND
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1890/ES11-00157.1
ISSN:2150-8925
Title of parent work (English):Ecosphere : the magazine of the International Ecology University
Publisher:Wiley
Place of publishing:Washington
Publication type:Article
Language:English
Year of first publication:2011
Publication year:2011
Release date:2017/03/26
Tag:Chlamydomonas acidophila; Ochromonas spp.; Oxytricha spp.; allopatric speciation; ciliates; everything is everywhere; flagellates; freshwater microbes; habitat-species interaction; local adaptation
Volume:2
Issue:12
Number of pages:14
Funding institution:Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P20118-B17]
Organizational units:Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie
Peer review:Referiert
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