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The temperature dependence of microbial community respiration is amplified by changes in species interactions

Nature Microbiology volume 8, pages 272–283 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Respiratory release of CO2 by microorganisms is one of the main components of the global carbon cycle. However, there are large uncertainties regarding the effects of climate warming on the respiration of microbial communities, owing to a lack of mechanistic, empirically tested theory that incorporates dynamic species interactions. We present a general mathematical model which predicts that thermal sensitivity of microbial community respiration increases as species interactions change from competition to facilitation (for example, commensalism, cooperation and mutualism). This is because facilitation disproportionately increases positive feedback between the thermal sensitivities of species-level metabolic and biomass accumulation rates at warmer temperatures. We experimentally validate our theoretical predictions in a community of eight bacterial taxa and show that a shift from competition to facilitation, after a month of co-adaptation, caused a 60% increase in the thermal sensitivity of respiration relative to de novo assembled communities that had not co-adapted. We propose that rapid changes in species interactions can substantially change the temperature dependence of microbial community respiration, which should be accounted for in future climate–carbon cycle models.

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Fig. 1: Species interactions affect the temperature sensitivity of microbial community respiration.
Fig. 2: Experimental design.
Fig. 3: Microbial facilitation amplifies the temperature sensitivity of community respiration.
Fig. 4: Temperature dependence of respiration per cell and community biomass.
Fig. 5: Emergence of facilitation in experimental microbial communities.

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Data availability

All data to reproduce our results are at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7105128.

Code availability

All code to reproduce our results are at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7105128.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a European Research Council Starting Grant awarded to G.Y.-D. (ERC StG 677278 TEMPDEP). T.C. was supported by the QMEE CDT, funded by NERC grant no. NE/P012345/1. S.P. was funded by Leverhulme Fellowship RF-2020-653\2 and UK national NERC grants NE/M020843/1 and NE/S000348/1.

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Author notes

  1. Francisca C. García

    Present address: Red Sea Research Centre, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

  2. These authors contributed equally: Francisca C. García, Tom Clegg.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK

    Francisca C. García, Daniel Barrios O’Neill, Ruth Warfield & Gabriel Yvon-Durocher

  2. Georgina Mace Centre, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, UK

    Tom Clegg & Samraat Pawar

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  6. Gabriel Yvon-Durocher
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Contributions

G.Y.-D. and S.P. conceived the study. F.C.G. and G.Y.-D. designed the laboratory experiments. F.C.G., R.W. and D.B.O. carried out the laboratory experiments. T.C. and S.P. developed the theory. All authors conducted the analysis of the experimental data and wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Samraat Pawar or Gabriel Yvon-Durocher.

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Supplementary Methods, Figs. 1–6 and Tables 1–7.

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García, F.C., Clegg, T., O’Neill, D.B. et al. The temperature dependence of microbial community respiration is amplified by changes in species interactions. Nat Microbiol 8, 272–283 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01283-w

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