The Hawaiian Archipelago: A Microbial Diversity Hotspot

The Hawaiian Archipelago is a "biodiversity hotspot" where significant endemism among eukaryotes has evolved through geographic isolation and local topography. To address the absence of corresponding region-wide data on Hawaii's microbiota, we compiled the first 16S SSU rDNA clone libraries and cultivated bacteria from five Hawaiian lakes, an anchialine pool, and the Lō'ihi submarine volcano. These sites offer diverse niches over ∼5000 m elevation and ∼1150 nautical miles. Each site hosted a distinct prokaryotic community dominated by Bacteria. Cloned sequences fell into 158 groups from 18 Bacteria phyla, while seven were unassigned and two belonged in the Euryarchaeota. Only seven operational taxonomic units (each OTU comprised sequences that shared ≥97% sequence identity) occurred in more than one site. Pure bacterial cultures from all sites fell into 155 groups (each group comprised pure cultures that shared ≥97% 16S SSU rDNA sequence identity) from 10 Bacteria phyla; 15 Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were cultivated from more than one site. One hundred OTUs (60%) and 52 (33.3%) cultures shared