The Cyanobacterial Role in the Resistance of Feather Mosses to Decomposition-Toward a New Hypothesis
(2013) In PLoS ONE 8(4).- Abstract
- Cyanobacteria-plant symbioses play an important role in many ecosystems due to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen (N) by the cyanobacterial symbiont. The ubiquitous feather moss Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. is colonized by cyanobacteria in boreal systems with low N deposition. Here, cyanobacteria fix substantial amounts of N-2 and represent a potential N source. The feather moss appears to be resistant to decomposition, which could be partly a result of toxins produced by cyanobacteria. To assess how cyanobacteria modulated the toxicity of moss, we measured inhibition of bacterial growth. Moss with varying numbers of cyanobacteria was added to soil bacteria to test the inhibition of their growth using the thymidine incorporation... (More)
- Cyanobacteria-plant symbioses play an important role in many ecosystems due to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen (N) by the cyanobacterial symbiont. The ubiquitous feather moss Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. is colonized by cyanobacteria in boreal systems with low N deposition. Here, cyanobacteria fix substantial amounts of N-2 and represent a potential N source. The feather moss appears to be resistant to decomposition, which could be partly a result of toxins produced by cyanobacteria. To assess how cyanobacteria modulated the toxicity of moss, we measured inhibition of bacterial growth. Moss with varying numbers of cyanobacteria was added to soil bacteria to test the inhibition of their growth using the thymidine incorporation technique. Moss could universally inhibit bacterial growth, but moss toxicity did not increase with N-2 fixation rates (numbers of cyanobacteria). Instead, we see evidence for a negative relationship between moss toxicity to bacteria and N-2 fixation, which could be related to the ecological mechanisms that govern the cyanobacteria - moss relationship. We conclude that cyanobacteria associated with moss do not contribute to the resistance to decomposition of moss, and from our results emerges the question as to what type of relationship the moss and cyanobacteria share. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3739099
- author
- Rousk, Kathrin ; DeLuca, Thomas H. and Rousk, Johannes LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- PLoS ONE
- volume
- 8
- issue
- 4
- article number
- e62058
- publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000317563300049
- scopus:84876172200
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0062058
- project
- Effect of environmental factors on fungal and bacterial growth in soil
- Microbial carbon-use efficiency
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0f3e3ec1-b764-43db-85ac-eb39899852ae (old id 3739099)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:05:47
- date last changed
- 2024-04-10 14:41:53
@article{0f3e3ec1-b764-43db-85ac-eb39899852ae,
abstract = {{Cyanobacteria-plant symbioses play an important role in many ecosystems due to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen (N) by the cyanobacterial symbiont. The ubiquitous feather moss Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. is colonized by cyanobacteria in boreal systems with low N deposition. Here, cyanobacteria fix substantial amounts of N-2 and represent a potential N source. The feather moss appears to be resistant to decomposition, which could be partly a result of toxins produced by cyanobacteria. To assess how cyanobacteria modulated the toxicity of moss, we measured inhibition of bacterial growth. Moss with varying numbers of cyanobacteria was added to soil bacteria to test the inhibition of their growth using the thymidine incorporation technique. Moss could universally inhibit bacterial growth, but moss toxicity did not increase with N-2 fixation rates (numbers of cyanobacteria). Instead, we see evidence for a negative relationship between moss toxicity to bacteria and N-2 fixation, which could be related to the ecological mechanisms that govern the cyanobacteria - moss relationship. We conclude that cyanobacteria associated with moss do not contribute to the resistance to decomposition of moss, and from our results emerges the question as to what type of relationship the moss and cyanobacteria share.}},
author = {{Rousk, Kathrin and DeLuca, Thomas H. and Rousk, Johannes}},
issn = {{1932-6203}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
publisher = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
series = {{PLoS ONE}},
title = {{The Cyanobacterial Role in the Resistance of Feather Mosses to Decomposition-Toward a New Hypothesis}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062058}},
doi = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0062058}},
volume = {{8}},
year = {{2013}},
}