Riverine Inputs Impact the Diversity and Population Structure of Heterotrophic Fungus-like Protists and Bacterioplankton in the Coastal Waters of the South China Sea

Water

Suisui Wang¹  Kalyani Sen¹  Yaodong He¹  Guangyi Wang¹  Mohan Bai² 

[1] Center for Marine Environmental Ecology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China;

关键词: thraustochytrids;    diversity;    salinity gradient;    DNA sequencing;   

DOI  :  10.3390/w14101580

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Labyrinthulomycetes protists (LP) play an important role in ocean carbon cycling with an ubiquitous presence in marine ecosystems. As one of the most important environmental factors, salinity is known to regulate their diverse metabolic activities. However, impacts of salinity gradient on their distribution and ecological functions in natural habitats remain largely unknown. In this study, the dynamics of LP abundance and community structure were examined in the surface water of plume, offshore, and pelagic habitats in the South China Sea (SCS). The highest (5.59 × 10⁵ copies L⁻¹) and lowest (5.28 × 10⁴ copies L⁻¹) abundance of LP were found to occur in the waters of plume and pelagic habitats, respectively. Multiple dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis revealed a strong relationship between salinity and LP community variation (p < 0.05, rho = 0.67). Unexpectedly, relative low LP diversity was detected in the brackish water samples of the plume. Moreover, our results indicated the genus Aplanochytrium dominated LP communities in offshore and pelagic, while Aurantiochytrium and Ulkenia were common in the plume. Physiological and metabolic features of these genera suggested that LP ecological functions were also largely varied along this salinity gradient. Clearly, the salinity gradient likely regulates the diversity and functional partitioning of marine protistan micro-eukaryotes in the world’s oceans.

【 授权许可】

Unknown