Deterministic processes drive national‐scale patterns in lake surface sediment bacteria and eukaryotic assemblage composition

Biological communities within lake surface sediments play a vital role in biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem services. Knowledge on abundance-occupancy patterns and assembly processes across large spatial scales and over multiple environmental gradients is limited, yet essential to aid in protection and restoration. In the present study, surface sediment samples were collected from 296 lakes across a wide spatial scale and covering multiple interacting environmental gradients including size, depth, altitude, and trophic state. A suite of physicochemical parameters were used to characterize the environmental conditions and bacterial and eukaryotic assemblages were determined using 16S and 18S rRNA metabarcoding. The majority (~ 55%) of amplicon sequence variants were only found in a single lake with eukaryotes having a more restricted distribution than bacteria. Deterministic processes were inferred to be dominant for both bacteria (78%) and eukaryotes (51%), with variable selection being especially important for bacteria (49%). Variation partitioning indicated that land use in the catchment, which is strongly related to trophic state, was the most important environmental factor in explaining the assemblage composition. This nationwide study across broad gradients provides new insights into the ecology of bacteria and eukaryotes in lake surface sediments and a platform to better understand the effects of multiple environmental stressors on lake sediment assemblages.

Contact Susie.Wood[at]lincoln.ac.nz for a copy of this paper.