##  [Environmental Patterns of Brown Moss- and Sphagnum-Associated Microbial Communities](/resource/environmental-patterns-brown-moss-and-sphagnum-associated-microbial-communities) 

Organization

[UiT The Arctic University of Norway](/organization/uit-arctic-university-norway)

[GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences](/organization/gfz-german-research-center-geosciences)

[University of South Bohemia](/organization/university-south-bohemia)

[University of Potsdam](/organization/university-potsdam)

 

 

Resource Type

[Peer reviewed article](/taxonomy/term/37)

 

 

Author(s)

Alexander Tøsdal Tveit

Andrea Kiss

Matthias Winkel

Fabian Horn

Tomáš Hájek

Mette Marianne Svenning

Dirk Wagner

Susanne Liebner

 

 

Original Authors

Alexander Tøsdal Tveit

Andrea Kiss

Matthias Winkel

Fabian Horn

Tomáš Hájek

Mette Marianne Svenning

Dirk Wagner

Susanne Liebner

 

 

Contacts

[Susanne Liebner](/contact/susanne-liebner)

 

 

Resource Date:

December

2020

 

 

Northern peatlands typically develop through succession from fens dominated by the moss family Amblystegiaceae to bogs dominated by the moss genus *Sphagnum*. How the different plants and abiotic environmental conditions provided in Amblystegiaceae and *Sphagnum* peat shape the respective moss associated microbial communities is unknown. Through a large-scale molecular and biogeochemical study spanning Arctic, sub-Arctic and temperate regions we assessed how the endo- and epiphytic microbial communities of natural northern peatland mosses relate to peatland type (*Sphagnum* and Amblystegiaceae), location, moss taxa and abiotic environmental variables. Microbial diversity and community structure were distinctly different between Amblystegiaceae and *Sphagnum* peatlands, and within each of these two peatland types moss taxon explained the largest part of microbial community variation. *Sphagnum* and Amblystegiaceae shared few (< 1% of all operational taxonomic units (OTUs)) but strikingly abundant (up to 65% of relative abundance) OTUs. This core community overlapped by one third with the *Sphagnum*-specific core-community. Thus, the most abundant microorganisms in *Sphagnum* that are also found in all the *Sphagnum* plants studied, are the same OTUs as those few shared with Amblystegiaceae. Finally, we could confirm that these highly abundant OTUs were endophytes in *Sphagnum*, but epiphytes on Amblystegiaceae. We conclude that moss taxa and abiotic environmental variables associate with particular microbial communities. While moss taxon was the most influential parameter, hydrology, pH and temperature also had significant effects on the microbial communities. A small though highly abundant core community is shared between *Sphagnum* and Amblystegiaceae.