Trophic states regulate assembly processes and network structures of small chromophytic phytoplankton communities in estuarine and coastal ecosystem

Xing Chen; Huaxian Zhao; Gonglingxia Jiang; Jinli Tang; Qiangsheng Xu; Xiaoli Li; Yuqing Huang; Shuqi Zou; Ke Dong; Weiguo Hou; Lianghao Pan; Pengbin Wang; Liangliang Huang; Nan Li

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113327

Trophic states regulate assembly processes and network structures of small chromophytic phytoplankton communities in estuarine and coastal ecosystem

Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Feb:175:113327. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113327. Epub 2022 Jan 22.

Authors

Xing Chen¹, Huaxian Zhao², Gonglingxia Jiang², Jinli Tang², Qiangsheng Xu², Xiaoli Li³, Yuqing Huang², Shuqi Zou⁴, Ke Dong⁴, Weiguo Hou⁵, Lianghao Pan⁶, Pengbin Wang⁷, Liangliang Huang⁸, Nan Li⁹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education (Nanning Normal University), 175 Mingxiu East Road, Nanning 530001, China; College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
² Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education (Nanning Normal University), 175 Mingxiu East Road, Nanning 530001, China.
³ School of Agriculture, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China.
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Kyonggi University, 154-42, Gwanggyosan-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 16227, South Korea.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Biogeosciences and Environmental Geology and Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
⁶ Guangxi Key Lab of Mangrove Conservation and Utilization, Guangxi Mangrove Research Center, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, 92 Changqing Road, Beihai, Guangxi 536000, China.
⁷ Fourth Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, 26 New Century Avenue, Beihai 536000, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, 36 Baochubei Road, Hangzhou 310012, China.
⁸ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education (Nanning Normal University), 175 Mingxiu East Road, Nanning 530001, China. Electronic address: nli0417@163.com.

PMID: 35077925
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113327

Abstract

Small chromophytic phytoplankton (SCP) are anticipated to be more important for a significant proportion of primary production in estuarine-coastal ecosystems. However, responses of SCP community to coastal eutrophication are still unclear. In this study, we investigated diversity, co-occurrence and assembly features of SCP communities, as well as relationship with environmental factors in subtropical Beibu Gulf. The results exhibited that the alpha diversity and beta diversity of SCP communities were significantly different among eutrophic states. Co-occurrence network revealed a complex interaction that most amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) in modules of the network were specific to trophic states. Further, phylogenetic based β-nearest taxon distance analyses revealed that stochastic processes mainly provided 69.26% contribution to SCP community assembly, whereas deterministic processes dominated community assembly in heavy eutrophic state. Overall, our findings elucidate the mechanism of diversity and assembly in SCP community and promote the understanding of SCP ecology related to subtropical coastal eutrophication.

Keywords: Assembly process; Co-occurrence network; Coastal ecosystems; Eutrophication; Small chromophytic phytoplankton (SCP); rbcL.

MeSH terms

Ecosystem*
Eutrophication
Phylogeny
Phytoplankton* / physiology
Stochastic Processes