<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Marine picoplankton, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic picoplankton, drive many biogeochemical processes, such as carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles, making them crucial to the marine ecosystem. Despite the fact that picoplankton is prevalent, its diversity and spatial distribution from the Straits of Malacca (SM) to the South China Sea (SCS) remain poorly investigated. This work explores the phylogenetic diversity and community structure of picoplankton in relation to environmental factors from the SM to the SCS. To this end, the Illumina MiSeq sequencing technique was applied to 16S and 18S rRNA genes. The results showed significant differences in the dynamics of picoplankton between the open sea and the strait region. <italic>Proteobacteria</italic> and <italic>Cyanobacteria</italic> constituted a larger part of the prokaryotic group. Within <italic>Cyanobacteria</italic>, the abundance of <italic>Prochlorococcus</italic> in the open sea was significantly higher than that of <italic>Synechococcus</italic>, while the opposite trend was observed in the strait. <italic>Dinoflagellata</italic>, <italic>Cnidaria</italic>, <italic>Retaria</italic>, <italic>Tunicata</italic>, and <italic>Arthropoda</italic> dominated among the eukaryotic taxa. High-throughput sequencing data indicated that salinity, temperature and NO<sub>2</sub>-N were the key factors determining the prokaryotic community structure, while temperature and dissolved oxygen determined the eukaryotic community structure in the studied region. The network analysis demonstrated that the cooperation and competition were also important factors affecting the picoplankton community.</p></abstract>

Marine picoplankton, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic picoplankton, drive many biogeochemical processes, such as carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles, making them crucial to the marine ecosystem. Despite the fact that picoplankton is prevalent, its diversity and spatial distribution from the Straits of Malacca (SM) to the South China Sea (SCS) remain poorly investigated. This work explores the phylogenetic diversity and community structure of picoplankton in relation to environmental factors from the SM to the SCS. To this end, the Illumina MiSeq sequencing technique was applied to 16S and 18S rRNA genes. The results showed significant differences in the dynamics of picoplankton between the open sea and the strait region. Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria constituted a larger part of the prokaryotic group. Within Cyanobacteria, the abundance of Prochlorococcus in the open sea was significantly higher than that of Synechococcus, while the opposite trend was observed in the strait. Dinoflagellata, Cnidaria, Retaria, Tunicata, and Arthropoda dominated among the eukaryotic taxa. High-throughput sequencing data indicated that salinity, temperature and NO2-N were the key factors determining the prokaryotic community structure, while temperature and dissolved oxygen determined the eukaryotic community structure in the studied region. The network analysis demonstrated that the cooperation and competition were also important factors affecting the picoplankton community.

Diversity and biogeography of picoplankton communities from the Straits of Malacca to the South China Sea

Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Marine picoplankton, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic picoplankton, drive many biogeochemical processes, such as carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles, making...

Site	OTU		Chao1		Shannon		Coverage
Site	16S	18S	16S	18S	16S	18S	16S	18S
S1	1000	2341	977.50	2641.87	5.20	8.87	0.997	0.993
S2	1092	1920	1045.07	2233.97	6.38	7.91	0.997	0.994
S3	891	2069	1050.14	2496.52	4.32	7.78	0.996	0.993
S4	995	1593	957.65	1909.62	6.26	7.50	0.998	0.995
S5	762	1791	738.70	2226.80	4.20	7.60	0.997	0.993
S6	746	1872	781.84	2334.47	4.50	6.94	0.997	0.993
S7	991	2174	969.97	2615.01	5.30	7.94	0.997	0.993
S8	972	2388	936.86	2728.43	5.17	8.45	0.997	0.993
S9	878	1803	875.60	2270.83	4.90	5.98	0.997	0.993
S10	822	2146	811.78	2405.77	4.96	8.71	0.997	0.995
S11	693	1978	672.34	2301.63	4.31	7.20	0.998	0.994
S12	753	2111	746.50	2448.65	4.48	7.22	0.997	0.994

Diversity and biogeography of picoplankton communities from the Straits of Malacca to the South China Sea

Article Category: Research Article

Publié en ligne: 06 mars 2020

Pages: 23 - 33

Reçu: 25 avr. 2019

Accepté: 26 août 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ohs-2020-0003

© 2020 Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, Poland

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Sequencing information and diversity index analyses