Freshwater bacteria have a limited ability to adapt
Published: Wednesday, May 8th 2024, 11:01
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Freshwater bacteria can only adapt to changing environmental conditions to a limited extent. This is shown by genome analyses of samples from Lake Zurich, Lake Thun, Lake Constance and other European lakes, as announced by the University of Zurich on Wednesday.
According to the university, this makes them susceptible to climate change. Knowing the limits of bacterial adaptability is important because bacteria are essential for the nutrient cycle and maintaining water quality.
For their study, which was published in the journal "Nature Communications", the researchers examined the genes of bacteria that they had collected in lakes in Switzerland and the Czech Republic. "Surprisingly, our results show that freshwater bacteria, which have a small genome, often go through longer phases of adaptive dormancy," explained study leader Adrian-Stefan Andrei in the press release from the University of Zurich.
According to the researcher, this stagnation contradicts the general expectation that microorganisms adapt to changing environmental conditions. "It could therefore be difficult for these microorganisms to adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions," says Andrei.
Climate change threatens freshwater habitats
The researchers assume that the bacteria have already reached an optimal state for their ecological niche in the course of evolution. This means that further major changes are neither advantageous nor necessary in order to survive under constant conditions.
However, this evolutionary strategy also limits the ability to test new genetic variations and successfully adapt to dynamic environmental conditions, as the university explained. "We need to address the increasing impacts of climate change. They are a significant threat to freshwater habitats, which are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic changes," said Andrei.
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