Microbial processes and biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems

• Grant number: 14/14139-3
• Support type: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• Duration: February 01, 2015 - January 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Hugo Miguel Preto de Morais Sarmento
• Grantee: Hugo Miguel Preto de Morais Sarmento
• Home Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Armando Augusto Henriques Vieira ; Bianca Trevizan Segovia da Silva ; Flavio Henrique da Silva ; Inessa Lacativa Bagatini ; Josep Maria Gasol Piqué ; Luciano Takeshi Kishi ; Maria da Graça Gama Melão ; Odete Rocha ; Ramiro Logares ; Stefan Bertilsson
• Associated grant(s): 16/50494-8 - Flow cytometry as a tool to assess the impact of mixotrophic Algae in planktonic food webs, AP.R
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/26786-1 - Structuring processes of microbial communities and ecological networks in latitudinal gradients of the global ocean, BP.DR; 17/10299-4 - Influence of quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on bacterial metabolism, BP.IC; 15/02307-1 - Comparative study of DNA extraction methods in microalgae, BP.IC

Abstract

Aquatic ecosystems play an important role in the cycling of energy and matter, and generally present high productivity and biodiversity. In tropical regions, these ecosystems are particularly relevant to biogeochemical cycles. Microorganisms play a central role in CO2 production and consumption processes in these ecosystems. However, little is known about the phylogenetic diversity of these microorganisms and their biotic interaction with other compartments of the planktonic food web, as well as the processes behind the high CO2 emissions observed in tropical aquatic ecosystems. The proposed research will quantify biomass stocks, processes (e.g. production, respiration) and interactions between the different compartments of the planktonic microbial food web in samples from a large number of aquatic environments in the state of São Paulo, and a time series in Broa reservoir. These field data, combined with experiments in controlled laboratory conditions (microcosm) and field experiments (mesocosms), will allow evaluating the influence of classical food chain community structure (phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish) on microbial food web compartments. On the other hand, the study of biodiversity of planktonic microbial communities (prokaryotes and eukaryotes) and the relationships of its dynamics with environmental factors through next generation sequencing techniques (marker genes and metagenomics), will allow a characterization of the community structure and ecological functioning of microbial assemblies, but also obtaining patterns of co-occurrence or covariance between microorganisms and other larger organisms of different food web compartments (allowing the construction of interaction networks). These results will allow testing the robustness of some ecological theories (mainly developed for animals and plants) in microbial systems and clarify the mechanisms behind the high CO2 emissions observed in tropical aquatic ecosystems. This proposal aims to implement a new research line in the DHb (UFSCar), dedicated to the study of ecology and biodiversity of aquatic microorganisms, applying cutting edge methods and technologies such as the application of flow cytometry in the quantification of aquatic microorganisms and single-cell physiological properties, and massive next-generation sequencing techniques to explore the biodiversity of aquatic microorganisms, among others. The strategic goal is to crate a new research group and put it in the frontier of knowledge in this area of research, at the international level. (AU)

Scientific publications

(17)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

WANDERLEY, BRUNO M. S.; ARAUJO, DANIEL S. A.; QUIROGA, V, MARIA; AMADO, ANDRE M.; NETO, ADRIAO D. D.; SARMENTO, HUGO; METZ, SEBASTIAN D.; UNREIN, FERNANDO. flowDiv: a new pipeline for analyzing flow cytometric diversity. BMC Bioinformatics, v. 20, MAY 28 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

MATEUS-BARROS, ERICK; MENEGHINE, AYLAN K.; BAGATINI, INESSA LACATIVA; FERNANDES, CAMILA C.; KISHI, LUCIANO T.; VIEIRA, ARMANDO A. H.; SARMENTO, HUGO. Comparison of two DNA extraction methods widely used in aquatic microbial ecology. Journal of Microbiological Methods, v. 159, p. 12-17, APR 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

COSTA, MARIANA R. A.; MENEZES, ROSEMBERG F.; SARMENTO, HUGO; ATTAYDE, JOSE L.; STERNBERG, LEONEL DA S. L.; BECKER, VANESSA. Extreme drought favors potential mixotrophic organisms in tropical semi-arid reservoirs. Hydrobiologia, v. 831, n. 1, SI, p. 43-54, MAR 2019. Web of Science Citations: 2.

GONSALVES ALHO, LAYS DE OLIVEIRA; GEBARA, RENAN CASTELHANO; PAINA, KARIME DE ARAUJO; SARMENTO, HUGO; GAMA MELDO, MARIA DA GRACA. Responses of Raphidocelis subcapitata exposed to Cd and Pb: Mechanisms of toxicity assessed by multiple endpoints. ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY, v. 169, p. 950-959, MAR 2019. Web of Science Citations: 1.

SARMENTO, HUGO; IZAGUIRRE, IRINA; BECKER, VANESSA; PADISAK, JUDIT; NASELLI-FLORES, LUIGI; HUSZAR, VERA L. M. Phytoplankton and its biotic interactions: Colin Reynolds' legacy to phytoplankton ecologists. Hydrobiologia, v. 831, n. 1, SI, p. 1-4, MAR 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

DE MELO, MICHAELA L.; BERTILSSON, STEFAN; AMARAL, JOAO HENRIQUE F.; BARBOSA, PEDRO M.; FORSBERG, BRUCE R.; SARMENTO, HUGO. Flood pulse regulation of bacterioplankton community composition in an Amazonian floodplain lake. Freshwater Biology, v. 64, n. 1, p. 108-120, JAN 2019. Web of Science Citations: 1.

PAINA, KARIME DE ARAUJO; GAMA MELAO, MARIA DA GRACA. Zooplankton community structure from tropical temporary ponds during a flood period. LIMNETICA, v. 38, n. 1, p. 189-211, 2019. Web of Science Citations: 1.

DE LUCCA, GISELE MARIA; FREITAS, EMANUELA CRISTINA; GAMA MELAO, MARIA DA GRACA. Effects of TiO2 Nanoparticles on the Neotropical Cladoceran Ceriodaphnia silvestrii by Waterborne and Dietary Routes. WATER AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION, v. 229, n. 9 SEP 2018. Web of Science Citations: 0.

AMARAL, JOAO HENRIQUE F.; BORGES, ALBERTO V.; MELACK, JOHN M.; SARMENTO, HUGO; BARBOSA, PEDRO M.; KASPER, DANIELE; DE MELO, MICHAELA L.; DE FEX-WOLF, DANIELA; DA SILVA, JONISMAR S.; FORSBERG, BRUCE R. Influence of plankton metabolism and mixing depth on CO2 dynamics in an Amazon floodplain lake. Science of The Total Environment, v. 630, p. 1381-1393, JUL 15 2018. Web of Science Citations: 11.

FREITAS, ROBERTA; VIEIRA, HELENA HENRIQUES; DE MORAES, GUILHERME PAVAN; DE MELO, MICHAELA LADEIRA; HENRIQUES VIEIRA, ARMANDO AUGUSTO; SARMENTO, HUGO. Productivity and rainfall drive bacterial metabolism in tropical cascading reservoirs. Hydrobiologia, v. 809, n. 1, p. 233-246, MAR 2018. Web of Science Citations: 2.

SEGOVIA, BIANCA TREVIZAN; MEIRA, BIANCA RAMOS; LANSAC-TOHA, FERNANDO MIRANDA; AMADEO, FELIPE EMILIANO; UNREIN, FERNANDO; MACHADO VELHO, LUIZ FELIPE; SARMENTO, HUGO. Growth and cytometric diversity of bacterial assemblages under different top-down control regimes by using a size-fractionation approach. Journal of Plankton Research, v. 40, n. 2, p. 129-141, MAR-APR 2018. Web of Science Citations: 2.

TOYAMA, D.; SANTOS-JUNIOR, C. D.; KISHI, L. T.; OLIVEIRA, T. C. S.; GARCIA, J. W.; SARMENTO, H.; MIRANDA, F. P.; HENRIQUE-SILVA, F. A snapshot on prokaryotic diversity of the Solimoes River basin (Amazon, Brazil). Genetics and Molecular Research, v. 16, n. 2 MAY 19 2017. Web of Science Citations: 1.

DOMINGUES, CAROLINA DAVILA; SAMPAIO DA SILVA, LUCIA HELENA; RANGEL, LUCIANA MACHADO; DE MAGALHAES, LEONARDO; ROCHA, ADRIANA DE MELO; LOBAO, LUCIA MEIRELLES; PAIVA, RAFAEL; ROLAND, FABIO; SARMENTO, HUGO. Microbial Food-Web Drivers in Tropical Reservoirs. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY, v. 73, n. 3, p. 505-520, APR 2017. Web of Science Citations: 5.

FERRERA, ISABEL; SARMENTO, HUGO; PRISCU, JOHN C.; CHIUCHIOLO, AMY; GONZALEZ, JOSE M.; GROSSART, HANS-PETER. Diversity and Distribution of Freshwater Aerobic Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacteria across a Wide Latitudinal Gradient. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, v. 8, FEB 22 2017. Web of Science Citations: 9.

SARMENTO, HUGO; MORANA, CEDRIC; GASOL, JOSEP M. Bacterioplankton niche partitioning in the use of phytoplankton-derived dissolved organic carbon: quantity is more important than quality. ISME Journal, v. 10, n. 11, p. 2582-2592, NOV 2016. Web of Science Citations: 18.

SEGOVIA, BIANCA T.; DOMINGUES, CAROLINA D.; MEIRA, BIANCA R.; LANSAC-TOHA, FERNANDO M.; FERMANI, PAULINA; UNREIN, FERNANDO; LOBAO, LUCIA M.; ROLANDO, FABIO; VELHO, LUIZ F. M.; SARMENTO, HUGO. Coupling Between Heterotrophic Nanoflagellates and Bacteria in Fresh Waters: Does Latitude Make a Difference?. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, v. 7, FEB 11 2016. Web of Science Citations: 6.

SARMENTO, HUGO; CASAMAYOR, EMILIO O.; AUGUET, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE; VILA-COSTA, MARIA; FELIP, MARISOL; CAMARERO, LLUS; GASOL, JOSEP M. Microbial food web components, bulk metabolism, and single-cell physiology of piconeuston in surface microlayers of high-altitude lakes. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, v. 6, APR 9 2015. Web of Science Citations: 12.