Contrasting bacterial and eukaryotic community response to changes in salinity

Salinity strongly influences microbial diversity across all three domains of life. However, patterns of turnover in community composition along salinity gradients differ between microbial eukaryotes (protists) and bacteria. We shifted whole microbial communities to different salinities using field transplant experiments to track bacterial and protist community responses to altered salinity.  The results suggest that the role of dispersal, selection, and biotic interactions differ between bacteria and eukaryotes. Incorporating eukaryotes into microbial ecology studies enables investigation into whole community dynamics and trophic interactions, and new insight into how biological differences between domains lead to differences in environmental diversity patterns.