Salt-marsh microbial communities barely reorganized across a summer day despite large oxygen swings
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
Across sunset, night, dawn and solar noon at two Venice Lagoon marshes, temperature and dissolved oxygen oscillated strongly while prokaryotic and eukaryotic community composition shifted only modestly. Metagenomes indicated functionally redundant communities capable of organic-matter degradation, sulfur cycling, denitrification and chemolithoautotrophic carbon fixation.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Short-term environmental variability does not always imply equally rapid community turnover. For monitoring, a stable taxonomic snapshot may coexist with substantial shifts in activity and chemistry.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
The sampling spans one summer diel cycle at two marshes. Metabarcoding and metagenomic potential do not directly quantify moment-to-moment metabolic rates, and seasonal or disturbance-scale responses may differ.
SOURCE
Microbial Ecology
View original evidence ↗
EvidencePeer-reviewedGeographyVenice Lagoon, ItalySystemSalt-marsh sediments WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS Across sunset, night, dawn and solar noon at two Venice Lagoon marshes, temperature and dissolved oxygen oscillated strongly while prokaryotic
Read the Wild Lands assessment →