Publication Date:
2024-05-22
Description:
Introduction: Continental hydrothermal systems (CHSs) are geochemically complex,
and they support microbial communities that vary across substrates. However, our
understanding of these variations across the complete range of substrates in CHS
is limited because many previous studies have focused predominantly on aqueous
settings.
Methods: Here we used metagenomes in the context of their environmental
geochemistry to investigate the ecology of different substrates (i.e., water, mud and
fumarolic deposits) from Solfatara and Pisciarelli.
Results and Discussion: Results indicate that both locations are lithologically similar
with distinct fluid geochemistry. In particular, all substrates from Solfatara have similar
chemistry whereas Pisciarelli substrates have varying chemistry; with water and mud
from bubbling pools exhibiting high SO4
2− and NH4
+ concentrations. Species alpha
diversity was found to be different between locations but not across substrates,
and pH was shown to be the most important driver of both diversity and microbial
community composition. Based on cluster analysis, microbial community structure
differed significantly between Pisciarelli substrates but not between Solfatara
substrates. Pisciarelli mud pools, were dominated by (hyper)thermophilic archaea,
and on average, bacteria dominated Pisciarelli fumarolic deposits and all investigated
Solfatara environments. Carbon fixation and sulfur oxidation were the most important
metabolic pathways fueled by volcanic outgassing at both locations. Together, results
demonstrate that ecological differences across substrates are not a widespread
phenomenon but specific to the system. Therefore, this study demonstrates the
importance of analyzing different substrates of a CHS to understand the full range of
microbial ecology to avoid biased ecological assessments.
Description:
Published
Description:
1066406
Description:
OSV2: Complessità dei processi vulcanici: approcci multidisciplinari e multiparametrici
Description:
JCR Journal
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article