Growing season drives the compositional changes and assembly processes of epiphytic bacterial communities of two submerged macrophytes in Taihu Lake

Large amounts of epiphytic bacteria live on the leaf surfaces of submerged macrophytes in freshwater lakes. Despite their important roles in affecting host plant's health and biogeochemical cycling, knowledge about epiphytic bacteria assembly is not sufficient. We studied epiphytic bacteria on two cohabiting plant species in Taihu Lake, China. In comparison with plant identity and geographic distance, the plant-growing season played a prominent role in driving alpha and beta diversity (compositional variations) of epiphytic bacterial communities. Phylogeny-based null model analysis revealed that the growing season also drove the relative importance of deterministic versus stochastic processes underlying bacterial community assembly. In May when both plants start growth, the deterministic processes were most prominent, while in months later than June, the stochastic processes' effects increased substantially. In addition, we found a significant positive relationship between alpha diversity and compositional stochasticity, implying that stochastic processes may have great effects on the maintenance of diversity and functioning of epiphytic bacteria in aquatic ecosystems. In summary, the growing season overwhelmed plant identity and spatial site in shaping epiphytic bacterial communities in Taihu Lake, which may suggest new clues in understanding the dynamics of epiphytic communities and their roles in large shallow lacustrine ecosystems.