Relationship Between Peat Type and Microbial Ecology in Sphagnum-Containing Peatlands of the Adirondack Mountains, NY, USA

• Published in: Microbial ecology 2021-08, Vol.82 (2), p.429-441
• Main Authors: St. James, Andrew R., Lin, Janni, Richardson, Ruth E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Bogs; Carbohydrate metabolism; Carbohydrates; Carbon; Community composition; Composition; Correlation analysis; Degradation; Ecology; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Groundwater table; Humification; Life Sciences; Metabolism; Metagenomics; Methanogenesis; Microbial activity; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; Microorganisms; Mountains; Nature Conservation; Peat; Peatlands; Sequencing; Soil Microbiology; Sphagnum; Stratification; Vertical distribution; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Water table
• ISSN: 0095-3628; 1432-184X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00248-020-01651-1

Peatland microbial community composition varies with respect to a range of biological and physicochemical variables. While the extent of peat degradation (humification) has been linked to microbial community composition along vertical stratification gradients within peatland sites, across-site variations have been relatively unexplored. In this study, we compared microbial communities across ten pristine Sphagnum -containing peatlands in the Adirondack Mountains, NY, which represented three different peat types—humic fen peat, humic bog peat, and fibric bog peat. Using 16S amplicon sequencing and network correlation analysis, we demonstrate that microbial community composition is primarily linked to peat type, and that distinct taxa networks distinguish microbial communities in each type. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing of the active water table region (mesotelm) from two Sphagnum -dominated bogs—one with fibric peat and one with humic peat—revealed differences in primary carbon degradation pathways, with the fibric peat being dominated by carbohydrate metabolism and hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, and the humic peat being dominated by aliphatic carbon metabolism and aceticlastic methanogenesis. Our results suggest that peat humification is a major factor driving microbial community dynamics across peatland ecosystems.