Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
Major/Program
Biology
First Advisor's Name
Evelyn Gaiser
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee chair
Second Advisor's Name
John Kominoski
Second Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Third Advisor's Name
Joel Trexler
Third Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Keywords
Biology, Diatoms, Ecology, Everglades, Wetlands
Date of Defense
3-31-2016
Abstract
The assembly mechanisms underlying microbial community abundance, biotic interactions, and diversity over space and time are unresolved, particularly in benthic microbial mats distributed along environmental gradients. Experimental enrichment of nutrient-limited microbial mats from the Florida Everglades along a nutrient subsidy-salinity stress gradient stimulated autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism, growth, and diversity independent of autotroph-heterotroph interactions across treatments and space. These results suggest spatial segregation of autotrophic and heterotrophic components within mats. Considering only the diatom component of Everglades mats over space and time, the subsidy-stress gradient controlled diatom compositional turnover at broad spatial scales while environmental and dispersal-based processes structured diatom communities at the regional scale and environmental processes independent of the environmental gradient at the temporal scale. These results indicate environmental gradients may not necessarily increase connectivity and dispersal across space, and temporal microbial diversity is driven at the local and regional scales by environmental heterogeneity in benthic microbial communities.
Identifier
FIDC000233
ORCID
orcid.org/0000-0001-6284-4987
Recommended Citation
Schulte, Nicholas O., "Controls on Benthic Microbial Community Structure and Assembly in a Karstic Coastal Wetland" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2447.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2447
Included in
Biology Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons
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