Data from: Spatial and successional dynamics of microbial biofilm communities in a grassland stream ecosystem

Biofilms represent a metabolically active and structurally complex
component of freshwater ecosystems. Ephemeral prairie streams are
hydrologically harsh and prone to frequent perturbation. Elucidating both
functional and structural community changes over time within prairie
streams provides a general understanding of microbial responses to
environmental disturbance. We examined microbial succession of biofilm
communities at three sites in a third-order stream at Konza Prairie over a
2- to 64-day period. Microbial abundance (bacterial abundance, chlorophyll
a concentrations) increased and never plateaued during the experiment. Net
primary productivity (net balance of oxygen consumption and production) of
the developing biofilms did not differ statistically from zero until 64
days suggesting a balance of the use of autochthonous and allochthonous
energy sources until late succession. Bacterial communities (MiSeq
analyses of the V4 region of 16S rRNA) established quickly. Bacterial
richness, diversity and evenness were high after 2 days and increased over
time. Several dominant bacterial phyla (Beta-, Alphaproteobacteria,
Bacteroidetes, Gemmatimonadetes, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi) and genera
(Luteolibacter, Flavobacterium, Gemmatimonas, Hydrogenophaga) differed in
relative abundance over space and time. Bacterial community composition
differed across both space and successional time. Pairwise comparisons of
phylogenetic turnover in bacterial community composition indicated that
early-stage succession (≤16 days) was driven by stochastic processes,
whereas later stages were driven by deterministic selection regardless of
site. Our data suggest that microbial biofilms predictably develop both
functionally and structurally indicating distinct successional
trajectories of bacterial communities in this ecosystem.