Coupling of nutrient bioavailability and nutrient ratios to microbial community structure and functional potential in lakes Show others and affiliations
2026 (English) In: ISME Communications, E-ISSN 2730-6151, Vol. 6, no 1, article id ycag150Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Microbial communities play a fundamental role in lake nutrient cycling, yet their composition and functional diversity in response to environmental gradients remain poorly understood. Specifically, little is known about how the supply of dissolved macronutrients, including inorganic and bioavailable organic fractions, shape microbial community structure, and functional diversity in lakes that are strongly subsidized by terrestrial inputs. Boreal lakes, with varying concentrations of total and bioavailable dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), provide an ideal setting to investigate these dynamics. Here, we hypothesize that microbial pathways related to N and P acquisition, as inferred from marker-gene data, are more represented under relative deficiency of available N and P resources, respectively. To test this, we analysed the rRNA-inferred microbial community composition and metabolic functional diversity across 34 south-Swedish lake outlets in relation to bioavailable nutrient supply. Results show that DOC and P were key drivers of microbial community structure, with bulk DOC concentrations being most relevant for bacteria (16S rRNA), while bioavailable fractions of DOC and P were relatively more influential for eukaryotic communities (18S rRNA). Predicted N- and P-related metabolic pathways correlated with nutrient ratio imbalances, supporting our hypothesis that microbial communities adjust their metabolic strategies in response to relative nutrient demand. These findings demonstrate that accounting for nutrient ratios and bioavailability, in addition to bulk concentrations, helps provide an improved mechanistical understanding of microbial functional potentials in lakes.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages Oxford University Press, 2026. Vol. 6, no 1, article id ycag150
Keywords [en]
aquatic biogeochemistry, carbon, DOC, DOM bioavailability, metabolic functional diversity, nitrogen, nutrient bioavailability, nutrient ratios, phosphorus, relative nutrient availability
National Category
Ecology
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-256638 DOI: 10.1093/ismeco/ycag150 ISI: 001803235900001 PubMedID: 42367192 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105043198534 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-256638 DiVA, id: diva2:2086507
Funder Swedish Research Council Formas, 2017-00772 Royal Physiographic Society in Lund, 2020-41332 Royal Physiographic Society in Lund, 2021-42227 Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse , F21-0295 2026-07-142026-07-142026-07-14 Bibliographically approved