Dormant strains of bacteria that have previously adapted to cope with certain temperatures are switched back on during climatic change, according to a report published today in eLife.
Dormant strains of bacteria that have previously adapted to cope with certain temperatures are switched back on during climatic change, according to a report published today in eLife.
The results have important implications for predicting the impact of global warming on ecosystems.
Microbes are integral to ecosystem function, because of their key roles as pathogens, food sources and in nutrient recycling. To understand the profound impact of climate change on the function of different ecosystems, it is therefore necessary to study the microbial communities within them.
“Microbial communities can respond to warming in the short term by acclimation – developing unique traits to suit the environment – or through the longer term by adaptation, where they make evolutionary changes over many generations,” explains lead author Thomas Smith, Research Associate at the Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Imperial College London, UK. “But there is also a third mechanism, called species sorting, whereby the composition of the overall community – that is, which species are present – alters with changes in temperature. The importance of species sorting relative to acclimation and adaptation has not previously been explored in the context of microbial community responses to changing temperature. ”
Read more at eLife
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