Dataset Information

Structural Comparison of Diplonemid Communities around the Izu Peninsula, Japan.

ABSTRACT: Diplonemea (diplonemids) is one of the most abundant and species-rich protist groups in marine environments; however, their community structures among local and seasonal samples have not yet been compared. In the present study, we analyzed four diplonemid community structures around the Izu Peninsula, Japan using barcode sequences amplified from environmental DNA. These sequences and the results of statistical analyses indicated that communities at the same site were more similar to each other than those in the same season. Environmental variables were also measured, and their influence on diplonemid community structures was examined. Salinity, electrical conductivity, and temperature, and their correlated variables, appeared to influence the structures of diplonemid communities, which was consistent with previous findings; however, since the results obtained did not reach statistical significance, further studies are required. A comparison of each diplonemid community indicated that some lineages were unique to specific samples, while others were consistently detected in all samples. Members of the latter type are cosmopolitan candidates and may be better adapted to the environments of the studied area. Future studies that focus on the more adaptive members will provide a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms by which diplonemids are widely distributed in marine environments and will facilitate their utilization as indicator organisms to monitor environmental changes.

SUBMITTER: Yabuki A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8209450 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Understanding the variation of biodiversity along environmental gradients and multiple spatial scales is relevant for theoretical and management purposes. Hereby, we analysed the spatial variability in diversity and structure of intertidal and subtidal macrobenthic Antarctic communities along vertical environmental stress gradients and across multiple horizontal spatial scales. Since biotic interactions and local topographic features are likely major factors for coastal assemblages, we tested the hypothesis that fine-scale processes influence the effects of the vertical environmental stress gradients on the macrobenthic diversity and structure. We used nested sampling designs in the intertidal and subtidal habitats, including horizontal spatial scales ranging from few centimetres to 1000s of metres along the rocky shore of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island. In both intertidal and subtidal habitats, univariate and multivariate analyses showed a marked vertical zonation in taxon richness and community structure. These patterns depended on the horizontal spatial scale of observation, as all analyses showed a significant interaction between height (or depth) and the finer spatial scale analysed. Variance and pseudo-variance components supported our prediction for taxon richness, community structure, and the abundance of dominant species such as the filamentous green alga Urospora penicilliformis (intertidal), the herbivore Nacella concinna (intertidal), the large kelp-like Himantothallus grandifolius (subtidal), and the red crustose red alga Lithothamnion spp. (subtidal). We suggest that in coastal ecosystems strongly governed by physical factors, fine-scale processes (e.g. biotic interactions and refugia availability) are still relevant for the structuring and maintenance of the local communities. The spatial patterns found in this study serve as a necessary benchmark to understand the dynamics and adaptation of natural assemblages in response to observed and predicted environmental changes in Antarctica.

Project description:Marine benthic prokaryotic communities play crucial roles in material recycling within coastal environments, including coral reefs. Coastal sedimentary microbiomes are particularly important as potential reservoirs of symbiotic, beneficial, and pathogenic bacteria in coral reef environments, and therefore presumably play a core role in local ecosystem functioning. However, there is a lack of studies comparing different environments with multiple sites on the island scale, particularly studies focusing on prokaryotic communities, as previous investigations have focused mainly on a single site or on specific environmental conditions. In our study, we collected coastal sediments from seven sites around Okinawa Island, Japan, including three different benthic types; sandy bottoms, seagrass meadows, and hard substratum with living scleractinian corals. We then used metabarcoding to identify prokaryotic compositions and estimate enzymes encoded by genes to infer their functions. The results showed that the three substrata had significantly different prokaryotic compositions. Seagrass meadow sites exhibited significantly higher prokaryotic alpha-diversity compared to sandy bottom sites. ANCOM analysis revealed that multiple bacterial orders were differentially abundant within each substratum. At coral reef sites, putative disease- and thermal stress-related opportunistic bacteria such as Rhodobacterales, Verrucomicrobiales, and Cytophagales were comparatively abundant, while seagrass meadow sites abundantly harbored Desulfobacterales, Steroidobacterales and Chromatiales, which are common bacterial orders in seagrass meadows. According to our gene-coded enzyme analyses the numbers of differentially abundant enzymes were highest in coral reef sites. Notably, superoxide dismutase, an important enzyme for anti-oxidative stress in coral tissue, was abundant at coral sites. Our results provide a list of prokaryotes to look into in each substrate, and further emphasize the importance of considering the microbiome, especially when focusing on environmental conservation. Our findings prove that prokaryotic metabarcoding is capable of capturing compositional differences and the diversity of microbial communities in three different environments. Furthermore, several taxa were suggested to be differentially more abundant in specific environments, and gene-coded enzymic compositions also showed possible differences in ecological functions. Further study, in combination with field observations and temporal sampling, is key to achieving a better understanding of the interactions between the local microbiome and the surrounding benthic community.

Dataset Information

Structural Comparison of Diplonemid Communities around the Izu Peninsula, Japan.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets