Water masses shape pico-nano eukaryotic communities of the Weddell Sea

0574452 - BC 2024 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Flegontova, Olga - Flegontov, Pavel - Jachníková, N. - Lukeš, Julius - Horák, Aleš
Water masses shape pico-nano eukaryotic communities of the Weddell Sea.
Communications Biology. Roč. 6, č. 1 (2023), č. článku 64. E-ISSN 2399-3642
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA18-23787S; GA MŠMT(CZ) LL1601
Grant - others:Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation(US) #9354
Program: Science
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : pico-nano * eukaryotic * Weddell Sea
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 5.9, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04452-7

Polar oceans belong to the most productive and rapidly changing environments, yet our understanding of this fragile ecosystem remains limited. Here we present an analysis of a unique set of DNA metabarcoding samples from the western Weddell Sea sampled throughout the whole water column and across five water masses with different characteristics and different origin. We focus on factors affecting the distribution of planktonic pico-nano eukaryotes and observe an ecological succession of eukaryotic communities as the water masses move away from the surface and as oxygen becomes depleted with time. At the beginning of this succession, in the photic zone, algae, bacteriovores, and predators of small eukaryotes dominate the community, while another community develops as the water sinks deeper, mostly composed of parasitoids (syndinians), mesoplankton predators (radiolarians), and diplonemids. The strongly correlated distribution of syndinians and diplonemids along the depth and oxygen gradients suggests their close ecological link and moves us closer to understanding the biological role of the latter group in the ocean ecosystem.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0345440