Metagenomic communities inhabiting Phragmites australis litter

In this study, the intermittent lake is taken up as a model for changes in water availability and how they affect the functional microbial communities decomposing Phragmites australis litter. The original material (source material) was exposed to decomposition at a predominately wet site (wet; 45°43'38.30" N, 14°24'16,59" E) or dry site (dry; 45°43'38.29" N, 14°24'16,72" E) for a duration of 45 days.
The overall aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of different conditions due to fluctuating water levels on the decomposition of P. australis litter. To predict litter decomposition dynamics in intermittent lakes, it is critical to understand how the functional microbial communities (present in the decomposing leaves) change under different habitat conditions. First, we hypothesized that functional communities from fresh leaves would change due to the start of the decomposition processes. Second, we hypothesized that the response of communities in different habitats would differ relative to the submergence level, showing differences in the metabolic processes. Our last hypothesis was that changes at the level of functional genes would be more pronounced in bacterial than in fungal functional communities. To evaluate our hypotheses, we analyzed functional microbial communities in fresh P. australis leaves and leaves decomposing in either wet or dry habitats that are characterized by different flooding patterns.