TY - JOUR
T1 - Bacterial diversity in the waterholes of the Kruger National Park
T2 - An eDNA metabarcoding approach
AU - Farrell, Maxwell J.
AU - Govender, Danny
AU - Hajibabaei, Mehrdad
AU - Van Der Bank, Michelle
AU - Davies, T. Jonathan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Published by NRC Research Press.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Bacteria are essential components of natural environments. They contribute to ecosystem functioning through roles as mutualists and pathogens for larger species, and as key components of food webs and nutrient cycles. Bacterial communities respond to environmental disturbances, and the tracking of these communities across space and time may serve as indicators of ecosystem health in areas of conservation concern. Recent advances in DNA sequencing of environmental samples allow for rapid and culture-free characterization of bacterial communities. Here we conduct the first metabarcoding survey of bacterial diversity in the waterholes of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. We show that eDNA can be amplified from waterholes and find strongly structured microbial communities, likely reflecting local abiotic conditions, animal ecology, and anthropogenic disturbance. Over timescales from days to weeks we find increased turnover in community composition, indicating bacteria may represent host-associated taxa of large vertebrates visiting the waterholes. Through taxonomic annotation we also identify pathogenic taxa, demonstrating the utility of eDNA metabarcoding for surveillance of infectious diseases. These samples serve as a baseline survey of bacterial diversity in the Kruger National Park, and in the future, spatially distinct microbial communities may be used as markers of ecosystem disturbance, or biotic homogenization across the park.
AB - Bacteria are essential components of natural environments. They contribute to ecosystem functioning through roles as mutualists and pathogens for larger species, and as key components of food webs and nutrient cycles. Bacterial communities respond to environmental disturbances, and the tracking of these communities across space and time may serve as indicators of ecosystem health in areas of conservation concern. Recent advances in DNA sequencing of environmental samples allow for rapid and culture-free characterization of bacterial communities. Here we conduct the first metabarcoding survey of bacterial diversity in the waterholes of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. We show that eDNA can be amplified from waterholes and find strongly structured microbial communities, likely reflecting local abiotic conditions, animal ecology, and anthropogenic disturbance. Over timescales from days to weeks we find increased turnover in community composition, indicating bacteria may represent host-associated taxa of large vertebrates visiting the waterholes. Through taxonomic annotation we also identify pathogenic taxa, demonstrating the utility of eDNA metabarcoding for surveillance of infectious diseases. These samples serve as a baseline survey of bacterial diversity in the Kruger National Park, and in the future, spatially distinct microbial communities may be used as markers of ecosystem disturbance, or biotic homogenization across the park.
KW - 16S
KW - Biomonitoring
KW - Conservation
KW - Microbiome
KW - Watering holes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065014794&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1139/gen-2018-0064
DO - 10.1139/gen-2018-0064
M3 - Article
C2 - 30495980
AN - SCOPUS:85065014794
SN - 0831-2796
VL - 62
SP - 229
EP - 242
JO - Genome
JF - Genome
IS - 3
ER -