biological diversity is threatened with extinction when an element is rare or when it
is in decline do not fit very well for the microbial world for several reasons. For
instance, the presence of resting or dormant life forms in the rare microbial biosphere with the potential to rapid response to environmental changes and to become
an important member of the community. And also the low probability of local
extinction because bacteria do not need to find a partner to reproduce and can
remain viable in the rare biosphere for very long periods. Finally, the apparently
high connectivity among ecosystems, in general, may provide continuous species
transfers although there is a lack of experimental information on dispersal and
extinction rates in the context of conservation. Airborne supply of species from
adjacent or remote ecosystems to alpine areas (Hervàs and Casamayor 2009;
Hervàs et al. 2009; Barberán et al. 2014b) may circumvent such extinction through
global-scale dynamics, high dispersibility and high speciation in the local communities (Barberán et al. 2014a).
Fortunately, microbial ecologists and theoretical ecologists are now analysing in
parallel large temporal datasets of microbial species using stochastic community
assembly models and establishing distinctive extinction–colonisation signatures at
the microbial taxa level. The concept of “colonisation” in this context is understood
as the ability of a particular microbial taxon to appear within the most abundant
members of the community, whereas “extinction” would be the process to fall into
the rare biosphere and become undetectable in the best case. The method identifies
for the first time those microbial taxa with an ephemeral dynamic (higher colonisation and higher extinction rates), and those that are more stable (lower colonisation, lower extinction) and it is a promising approach to applying a closer
conservation view on both microbial populations and microbial habitats with a
more dynamic perspective (Jiménez-Ontiveros et al. 2017). The inadequacy of
knowledge on the microbial world needs the development of major educational
programs (Barberán et al. 2016) with emphasis on the engagement of ecosystems
managers and citizens to better understand the whole picture of the biosphere and
the key role of microorganisms within it. Criteria such as microbial species richness, phylogenetic diversity, exclusive microbial species occurrences and the
microbial conservation value of a habitat, are now available to support environmental managers and lawyer decisions, and to citizens and stakeholders in general.
Examples of threatened areas of high microbial interest in which efforts should be
more intense to preserve their biodiversity are now available (e.g. Casamayor et al.
2013). Disturbance and loss of habitats or massive habitat change by anthropogenic
activities may indeed threaten microbes and led to local extinction as frequently as
in macroorganisms. Ecosystem management in alpine areas should promote to
maintain spots of habitat heterogeneity within the landscape matrix between lakes
and within the lake to retain such phylogenetically rich and diverse natural heritage.
Acknowledgements I am thankful to the Authorities of the Aigüestortes and Estany de St
Maurici National Park for sampling facilities in the protected areas and continuous support, and
Centre de Recerca d’Alta Muntanya, Universitat de Barcelona, Vielha for laboratory and logistics
facilities. Technical support, fieldwork assistance, and fruitful discussions with many students,
176
E.O. Casamayor
is in decline do not fit very well for the microbial world for several reasons. For
instance, the presence of resting or dormant life forms in the rare microbial biosphere with the potential to rapid response to environmental changes and to become
an important member of the community. And also the low probability of local
extinction because bacteria do not need to find a partner to reproduce and can
remain viable in the rare biosphere for very long periods. Finally, the apparently
high connectivity among ecosystems, in general, may provide continuous species
transfers although there is a lack of experimental information on dispersal and
extinction rates in the context of conservation. Airborne supply of species from
adjacent or remote ecosystems to alpine areas (Hervàs and Casamayor 2009;
Hervàs et al. 2009; Barberán et al. 2014b) may circumvent such extinction through
global-scale dynamics, high dispersibility and high speciation in the local communities (Barberán et al. 2014a).
Fortunately, microbial ecologists and theoretical ecologists are now analysing in
parallel large temporal datasets of microbial species using stochastic community
assembly models and establishing distinctive extinction–colonisation signatures at
the microbial taxa level. The concept of “colonisation” in this context is understood
as the ability of a particular microbial taxon to appear within the most abundant
members of the community, whereas “extinction” would be the process to fall into
the rare biosphere and become undetectable in the best case. The method identifies
for the first time those microbial taxa with an ephemeral dynamic (higher colonisation and higher extinction rates), and those that are more stable (lower colonisation, lower extinction) and it is a promising approach to applying a closer
conservation view on both microbial populations and microbial habitats with a
more dynamic perspective (Jiménez-Ontiveros et al. 2017). The inadequacy of
knowledge on the microbial world needs the development of major educational
programs (Barberán et al. 2016) with emphasis on the engagement of ecosystems
managers and citizens to better understand the whole picture of the biosphere and
the key role of microorganisms within it. Criteria such as microbial species richness, phylogenetic diversity, exclusive microbial species occurrences and the
microbial conservation value of a habitat, are now available to support environmental managers and lawyer decisions, and to citizens and stakeholders in general.
Examples of threatened areas of high microbial interest in which efforts should be
more intense to preserve their biodiversity are now available (e.g. Casamayor et al.
2013). Disturbance and loss of habitats or massive habitat change by anthropogenic
activities may indeed threaten microbes and led to local extinction as frequently as
in macroorganisms. Ecosystem management in alpine areas should promote to
maintain spots of habitat heterogeneity within the landscape matrix between lakes
and within the lake to retain such phylogenetically rich and diverse natural heritage.
Acknowledgements I am thankful to the Authorities of the Aigüestortes and Estany de St
Maurici National Park for sampling facilities in the protected areas and continuous support, and
Centre de Recerca d’Alta Muntanya, Universitat de Barcelona, Vielha for laboratory and logistics
facilities. Technical support, fieldwork assistance, and fruitful discussions with many students,
176
E.O. Casamayor