Protistan-Bacterial Microbiota Exhibit Stronger Species Sorting and Greater Network Connectivity Offshore than Nearshore across a Coast-to-Basin Continuum
Ping Sun, Xin Huang, Ying Wang, Bangqin Huang
Abstract
Microbial organisms play a crucial role in global nutrient cycling. Few studies have attempted to simultaneously investigate the community assembly of microeukaryotes and prokaryotes and their association patterns in oceanic waters. This is especially true regarding how they vary with habitats and depths despite the fact that they are essential for developing a more holistic understanding of marine ecosystems. This study revealed the differential actions of selection and dispersal limitation and species association across a coast-to-basin continuum on the marine protistan-bacterial microbiome. Moreover, temperature was identified as a crucial factor driving the structure and co-occurrence of protistan and bacterial communities. The results emphasize that the differences in community assembly and association patterns between nearshore and offshore of the main constituents of the ocean microbiota should be considered to understand their current and future configurations. This is especially crucial in the context of climate change, as the response of ocean microbiota to nearshore and offshore temperature changes remains unknown.