Spatiotemporal dynamics of dinoflagellate communities in the Taiwan Strait and their correlations with micro-eukaryotic and bacterial communities

Abstract

Dinoflagellate blooms have negative adverse effects on marine ecosystems. However, our knowledge about the spatiotemporal distribution of dinoflagellate communities and their correlations with micro-eukaryotic and bacterial communities is still rare. Here, the sediment micro-eukaryotic and bacterial communities were explored in the Taiwan Strait (TWS) by 16S and 18S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing. We found that the dinoflagellates were the most abundant algal group in TWS, and their relative abundance was higher in spring and autumn than in summer. Moreover, the species richness and community composition of dinoflagellates showed strong seasonal patterns. NO₃-N and NH₄-N had the strongest correlations with the spatiotemporal dynamics of community composition of dinoflagellates. The dinoflagellates had a significantly wider niche breadth than other algal groups for NH₄-N, NO₃-N and NO₂-N, and therefore potentially contributed to a wider distribution range and high abundance in TWS. In addition, the dinoflagellates had stronger impacts on microeukaryotes than on bacteria for both community composition and species richness. However, the dinoflagellates showed close coexistence with bacteria but loose coexistence with microeukaryotes in spring co-occurrence networks. This close coexistence suggests the potentially strong synergy effects between dinoflagellates and bacteria in spring dinoflagellate blooms in TWS. Overall, this study revealed the distribution mechanisms of dinoflagellates in TWS based on niche breadth and also unveiled the different effects of dinoflagellates on micro-eukaryotic and bacterial communities.

Keywords: Bacterial communities; Dinoflagellate; Harmful algal bloom; Micro-eukaryotic community; Niche breadth.