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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Aquatic Microbiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1462432

Insights into the effects of environmental factors on phytoplankton and microzooplankton at a basin scale: diversity, assembly mechanisms, and cooccurrence networks

Provisionally accepted
Yanjun Shen Yanjun Shen *Xinxin Zhou Xinxin Zhou Jiaming Zhang Jiaming Zhang Qinghua Li Qinghua Li Yufeng Zhang Yufeng Zhang Qing Zuo Qing Zuo *
  • Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Mastering the characteristics of planktonic microbial communities under the influence of basin-scale environmental factors can provide scientific basis to develop more targeted protection and restoration measures. Here, an environmental DNA metabarcoding technology was applied to investigate the phytoplankton and microzooplankton simultaneously along the whole basin of Jialing River, one of the most important rivers in Southwest China with large scale altitude gradient and water temperature discrepancy. Along the river-way from upper to lower reach, an upward trend in richness of both phytoplankton and microzooplankton was observed with significant positive and negative correlations to water temperature and altitude (Spearman correlation, p < 0.05), respectively. Significant variations in their compositions along the river were also uncovered with Chrysophyta and Foraminifera was potential keystones recognized by the co-occurrence network analysis. Additionally, exponential distancedecay of similarities were detected for both phytoplankton and microzooplankton, which were stronger for phytoplankton. Based on the results of variation partitioning analysis and null model, variations in phytoplankton communities were more governed by environmental selection than those in microzooplankton. Furthermore, the co-occurrence network showed a declining trend in the complexity and stability from the upper to lower reaches. These findings could serve to establish a basis for the investigation of phytoplankton and microzooplankton communities in rivers with multiple artificial modifications.

    Keywords: Distance-decay of similarity, Ecosystem stability, environmental DNA, Environmental filtering, River ecosystem, temperature

    Received: 10 Jul 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shen, Zhou, Zhang, Li, Zhang and Zuo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yanjun Shen, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
    Qing Zuo, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.