Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/2440/137545
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Type: | Journal article |
Title: | Rainfall as a trigger of ecological cascade effects in an Australian groundwater ecosystem |
Author: | Saccò, M. Blyth, A.J. Humphreys, W.F. Cooper, S.J.B. White, N.E. Campbell, M. Mousavi-Derazmahalleh, M. Hua, Q. Mazumder, D. Smith, C. Griebler, C. Grice, K. |
Citation: | Scientific Reports, 2021; 11(1):1-15 |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Issue Date: | 2021 |
ISSN: | 2045-2322 2045-2322 |
Statement of Responsibility: | Mattia Saccò, Alison J. Blyth, William F. Humphreys, Steven J. B. Cooper, Nicole E. White, Matthew Campbell, Mahsa Mousavi, Derazmahalleh, Quan Hua, Debashish Mazumder, Colin Smith, Christian Griebler, Kliti Grice |
Abstract: | Groundwaters host vital resources playing a key role in the near future. Subterranean fauna and microbes are crucial in regulating organic cycles in environments characterized by low energy and scarce carbon availability. However, our knowledge about the functioning of groundwater ecosystems is limited, despite being increasingly exposed to anthropic impacts and climate change-related processes. In this work we apply novel biochemical and genetic techniques to investigate the ecological dynamics of an Australian calcrete under two contrasting rainfall periods (LR—low rainfall and HR—high rainfall). Our results indicate that the microbial gut community of copepods and amphipods experienced a shift in taxonomic diversity and predicted organic functional metabolic pathways during HR. The HR regime triggered a cascade effect driven by microbes (OM processors) and exploited by copepods and amphipods (primary and secondary consumers), which was finally transferred to the aquatic beetles (top predators). Our findings highlight that rainfall triggers ecological shifts towards more deterministic dynamics, revealing a complex web of interactions in seemingly simple environmental settings. Here we show how a combined isotopic-molecular approach can untangle the mechanisms shaping a calcrete community. This design will help manage and preserve one of the most vital but underrated ecosystems worldwide. |
Rights: | © The Author(s) 2021 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/. |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-021-83286-x |
Grant ID: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP140100555 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83286-x |
Appears in Collections: | Biochemistry publications |
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hdl_137545.pdf | Published version | 3.85 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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