Contrasting Community Assembly Mechanisms Underlie Similar Biogeographic Patterns of Surface Microbiota in the Tropical North Pacific Ocean
Jie Kong, Lei Wang, Lin Cai, Fangfang Kuang, Xiwu Zhou, Edward A. Laws, Ping Sun, Hao Huang, Bangqin Huang
Abstract
Bacteria and microeukaryotes are extremely diverse groups in the ocean, where they regulate elemental cycling and energy flow. Studies of marine microbial ecology have benefited greatly from the rapid progress that has been made in genomic sequencing and theoretical microbial ecology. However, the spatial distribution of marine bacteria and microeukaryotes and the nature of the assembly mechanisms that determine their distribution patterns in oligotrophic marine waters are poorly understood. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing methods to identify the distribution patterns and ecological processes of bacteria and microeukaryotes in an oligotrophic, tropical ocean. Our study showed that contrasting community assembly mechanisms underlaid similar biogeographic patterns of surface bacterial and microeukaryotic communities in the tropical North Pacific Ocean.