Micropredator niche differentiation between bulk soil and rhizosphere of an agricultural soil depends on bacterial prey

Abstract

Predation is a fundamental mechanism of all food webs, but its drivers and organismic connectivities, especially at microbial level, are still poorly understood. Specifically, competitive carbon flows in the presence of multiple micropredators, as well as trophic links within and between microbial kingdoms have rarely been resolved. Here, using maize-planted agricultural soil as a model system, we have investigated the predation of amended bacterial prey by both prokaryotic and eukaryotic micropredators. We have queried how soil compartment (rhizosphere vs. bulk soil) and nature of prey (Gram-positive vs. Gram-negative) influence predation outcomes. We added ¹³C-labelled biomass of Pseudomonas putida and Arthrobacter globiformis to soil microcosms and found that P. putida was consumed much more rapidly. Bacteria and microeukaryotes specifically responsive to the biomass amendments were identified by rRNA-SIP. Amongst the bacteria, only a few myxobacteria sequestered C from A. globiformis, whereas a considerable diversity of predatory bacteria incorporated C derived from P. putida. Diverse groups of heterotrophic protists, especially amoeba incl. Glaeseria, Hartmanella and Vahlkampfia spp., were observed to incorporate ¹³C from both amendments, but with pronounced niche differentiation between rhizosphere and bulk soil. This provides novel insights into niche partitioning between bacterial and eukaryotic micropredators in soil, driven by the nature of bacterial prey itself, but also by soil compartments.

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