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. 2023 Jan 19;18(1):5.
doi: 10.1186/s40793-022-00456-8.

Habitat type and host grazing regimen influence the soil microbial diversity and communities within potential biting midge larval habitats

Saraswoti Neupane  1 , Travis Davis  2 , Dana Nayduch  2 , Bethany L McGregor  3
Affiliations

Habitat type and host grazing regimen influence the soil microbial diversity and communities within potential biting midge larval habitats

Saraswoti Neupane et al. Environ Microbiome. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Biting midges (Culicoides spp.) are important vectors of diverse microbes such as viruses, protozoa, and nematodes that cause diseases in wild and domestic animals. However, little is known about the role of microbial communities in midge larval habitat utilization in the wild. In this study, we characterized microbial communities (bacterial, protistan, fungal and metazoan) in soils from disturbed (bison and cattle grazed) and undisturbed (non-grazed) pond and spring potential midge larval habitats. We evaluated the influence of habitat and grazing disturbance and their interaction on microbial communities, diversity, presence of midges, and soil properties.

Results: Bacterial, protistan, fungal and metazoan community compositions were significantly influenced by habitat and grazing type. Irrespective of habitat and grazing type, soil communities were dominated by phyla Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria (Bacteria); Apicomplexa, Cercozoa, Ciliophora, Ochrophyta (Protists); Chytridiomycota, Cryptomycota (Fungi) and Nematoda, Arthropoda (Metazoa). The relative abundance of Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia (Bacteria); Apicomplexa, Lobosa (Protists); Ascomycota, Blastomycotina, Cryptomycota (Fungi); and Platyhelminthes (Metazoa) were significantly affected by grazing type. Of note, midge prevalence was higher in grazed sites (67-100%) than non-grazed (25%). Presence of midges in the soil was negatively correlated with bacterial, protistan, fungal and metazoan beta diversities and metazoan species richness but positively correlated with protistan and fungal species richness. Moreover, total carbon (TC), nitrogen (TN) and organic matter (OM) were negatively correlated with the presence of midges and relative abundances of unclassified Solirubrobacterales (Bacteria) and Chlamydomonadales (Protists) but positively with Proteobacteria and unclassified Burkholderiales (Bacteria).

Conclusions: Habitat and grazing type shaped the soil bacterial, protistan, fungal and metazoan communities, their compositions and diversities, as well as presence of midges. Soil properties (TN, TC, OM) also influenced soil microbial communities, diversities and the presence of midges. Prevalence of midges mainly in grazed sites indicates that midges prefer to breed and shelter in a habitat with abundant hosts, probably due to greater accessibility of food (blood meals). These results provide a first glimpse into the microbial communities, soil properties and prevalence of midges in suspected midge larval habitats at a protected natural prairie site.

Keywords: Bacteria; Diversity; Fungi; Metazoa community; Potential midge larval habitat; Protists; Soil; rRNA gene.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Soil properties of potential midge habitats. Mean A Total Carbon, B Total Nitrogen, C Organic matter in disturbed (bison- and cattle-grazed) and undisturbed (non-grazed) pond and spring habitats. The error bars are standard errors of the means. The different letters on top indicate the significant differences between habitat type and grazing type (P ≤ 0.05)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bacterial diversity and community composition of potential midge habitat soil. A Shannon diversity index in disturbed (bison- and cattle-grazed) and undisturbed (non-grazed) pond and spring habitats. The error bars are standard errors of means. The different letters indicate significant differences between sampling sites (P ≤ 0.05). B Bacterial community composition of each sample. The first and second axes of Principal Co-ordinates Analysis depicts Bray–Curtis distances between samples. C Bacterial community composition (phyla). Relative abundance for each sample is shown, and sample names are color coded based on habitat types on the horizontal axis (pond = blue and spring = yellow)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Protistan diversity and community composition of potential midge habitat soil. A Shannon diversity index in disturbed (bison- and cattle-grazed) and undisturbed (non-grazed) pond and spring habitats. The error bars are standard errors of means. The different letters indicate significant differences between sampling sites (P ≤ 0.05). B Protistan community composition in each sample. The first and second axes of Principal Co-ordinates Analysis illustrates Euclidean distances between samples. C Protistan community composition (phyla). Relative abundance for each sample is shown, and sample names are color coded based on habitat types on the horizontal axis (pond = blue and spring = yellow)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Fungal diversity and community composition of potential midge habitat soil. A Shannon diversity index in disturbed (bison- and cattle-grazed) and undisturbed (non-grazed) pond and spring habitats. The error bars are standard errors of means. The different letters indicate significant differences between sampling sites (P ≤ 0.05). B Fungal community composition in each sample. The first and second axes of Principal Co-ordinates Analysis shows Euclidean distances between samples. C Fungal community composition (phyla). Relative abundance for each sample is shown, and sample names are color coded based on habitat types on the horizontal axis (pond = blue and spring = yellow)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Metazoan diversity and community composition of potential midge habitat soil. A Shannon diversity index in disturbed (bison- and cattle-grazed) and undisturbed (non-grazed) pond and spring habitats. The error bars are standard errors of means. The different letters indicate the significant differences between sampling sites (P ≤ 0.05). B Metazoan community composition in each sample. The first and second axes of Principal Co-ordinates Analysis depicts Bray–Curtis distances between samples. C Metazoan community composition (phyla). Relative abundance for each sample is shown, and sample names are color coded based on habitat types on the horizontal axis (pond = blue and spring = yellow)
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