Functional biogeography of marine microbial heterotrophs
Heterotrophic bacteria and archaea ("heteroprokaryotes") drive global carbon cycling, but how to quantitatively organize their functional complexity remains unclear. We generated a global-scale understanding of marine heteroprokaryotic functional biogeography by synthesizing genetic sequencing data with a mechanistic marine ecosystem model. We incorporated heteroprokaryotic diversity into the trait-based model along two axes: substrate lability and growth strategy. Using genetic sequences along three ocean transects, we compiled 21 heteroprokaryotic guilds and estimated their degree of optimization for rapid growth (copiotrophy). Data and model consistency indicated that gradients in grazing and substrate lability predominantly set biogeographical patterns, and we identified deep-ocean "slow copiotrophs" whose ecological interactions control the surface accumulation of dissolved organic carbon.
Authors
- Liang Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5528-1298)
- Emily J. Zakem (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6799-5063)
- JL Weissman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4237-4807)
- Jed A. Fuhrman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2361-1985)
- Elisa R. Halewood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6143-891X)
- Stephanie Dutkiewicz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0380-9679)
- Jesse McNichol (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8870-7726)
- Craig A. Carlson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2591-5293)
- Yubin Raut (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3841-7023)
- Naomi M. Levine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4963-0535)
Institutions
- University of Southern California (US)
- City College of New York (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (US)
- St. Francis Xavier University (CA)
- Institute for Sustainability (GB)
- Stony Brook University (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2025-05-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado5323
- Citations
- 11
- Primary Topic
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 18.88