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Patterns and Drivers of Vertical Distribution of the Ciliate Community from the Surface to the Abyssopelagic Zone in the Western Pacific Ocean.

ABSTRACT: The deep sea is one of the largest but least understood ecosystems on earth. Knowledge about the diversity and distribution patterns as well as drivers of microbial eukaryote (including ciliates) along the water column, particularly below the photic zone, is scarce. In this study, we investigated the diversity of pelagic ciliates, the main group of marine microeukaryotes, their vertical distribution from the surface to the abyssopelagic zone, as well as their horizontal distribution over a distance of 1,300 km in the Western Pacific Ocean, using high-throughput DNA and cDNA (complementary DNA) sequencing. No distance-decay relationship could be detected along the horizontal scale; instead, a distinct vertical distribution within the ciliate communities was revealed. The alpha diversity of the ciliate communities in the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) and the 200 m layer turned out to be significantly higher compared with the other water layers. The ciliate communities in the 200 m water layer appeared to be more similar to those in deeper layers from 1,000 m to about 5,000 m than to the surface and DCM ciliate communities. Dominant species in the bathypelagic and abyssopelagic zone, particularly some parasites, were also detected in the 200 m layer, but were almost absent in the surface layer. The 200 m layer, therefore, seems to be an important "species bank" for deep ocean layers. Statistical analyses further revealed significant effects of temperature and chlorophyll a on the partitioning of ciliate diversity, indicating that environmental factors are a stronger force in shaping marine pelagic ciliate communities than the geographic distance.

SUBMITTER: Zhao F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5742212 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Benthic ciliates and the environmental factors shaping their distribution are far from being completely understood. Likewise, deep-sea systems are amongst the least understood ecosystems on Earth. In this study, using high-throughput DNA sequencing, we investigated the diversity and community composition of benthic ciliates in different sediment layers of a seamount and an adjacent abyssal plain in the tropical Western Pacific Ocean with water depths ranging between 813 m and 4566 m. Statistical analyses were used to assess shifts in ciliate communities across vertical sediment gradients and water depth.Nine out of 12 ciliate classes were detected in the different sediment samples, with Litostomatea accounting for the most diverse group, followed by Plagiopylea and Oligohymenophorea. The novelty of ciliate genetic diversity was extremely high, with a mean similarity of 93.25% to previously described sequences. On a sediment depth gradient, ciliate community structure was more similar within the upper sediment layers (0-1 and 9-10 cm) compared to the lower sediment layers (19-20 and 29-30 cm) at each site. Some unknown ciliate taxa which were absent from the surface sediments were found in deeper sediments layers. On a water depth gradient, the proportion of unique OTUs was between 42.2% and 54.3%, and that of OTUs shared by all sites around 14%. However, alpha diversity of the different ciliate communities was relatively stable in the surface layers along the water depth gradient, and about 78% of the ciliate OTUs retrieved from the surface layer of the shallowest site were shared with the surface layers of sites deeper than 3800 m. Correlation analyses did not reveal any significant effects of measured environmental factors on ciliate community composition and structure.We revealed an obvious variation in ciliate community along a sediment depth gradient in the seamount and the adjacent abyssal plain and showed that water depth is a less important factor shaping ciliate distribution in deep-sea sediments unlike observed for benthic ciliates in shallow seafloors. Additionally, an extremely high genetic novelty of ciliate diversity was found in these habitats, which points to a hot spot for the discovery of new ciliate species.

Dataset Information

Patterns and Drivers of Vertical Distribution of the Ciliate Community from the Surface to the Abyssopelagic Zone in the Western Pacific Ocean.

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