Biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer Arctic fjords
Abstract Climate change is opening the Arctic Ocean to increasing human impact and ecosystem changes. Arctic fjords, the region’s most productive ecosystems, are sustained by a diverse microbial community at the base of the food web. Here we show that Arctic fjords become more prokaryotic in the pic...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05946-8 |
| _version_ | 1797273514786422784 |
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| author | Cora Hörstmann Tore Hattermann Pauline C. Thomé Pier Luigi Buttigieg Isidora Morel Anya M. Waite Uwe John |
| author_facet | Cora Hörstmann Tore Hattermann Pauline C. Thomé Pier Luigi Buttigieg Isidora Morel Anya M. Waite Uwe John |
| author_sort | Cora Hörstmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Climate change is opening the Arctic Ocean to increasing human impact and ecosystem changes. Arctic fjords, the region’s most productive ecosystems, are sustained by a diverse microbial community at the base of the food web. Here we show that Arctic fjords become more prokaryotic in the picoplankton (0.2–3 µm) with increasing water temperatures. Across 21 fjords, we found that Arctic fjords had proportionally more trophically diverse (autotrophic, mixotrophic, and heterotrophic) picoeukaryotes, while subarctic and temperate fjords had relatively more diverse prokaryotic trophic groups. Modeled oceanographic connectivity between fjords suggested that transport alone would create a smooth gradient in beta diversity largely following the North Atlantic Current and East Greenland Current. Deviations from this suggested that picoeukaryotes had some strong regional patterns in beta diversity that reduced the effect of oceanographic connectivity, while prokaryotes were mainly stopped in their dispersal if strong temperature differences between sites were present. Fjords located in high Arctic regions also generally had very low prokaryotic alpha diversity. Ultimately, warming of Arctic fjords could induce a fundamental shift from more trophic diverse eukaryotic- to prokaryotic-dominated communities, with profound implications for Arctic ecosystem dynamics including their productivity patterns. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:45:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2e5b91d5c0d74ccabafdb08db9ea889e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:45:27Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2e5b91d5c0d74ccabafdb08db9ea889e2024-03-05T20:00:05ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422024-03-017111110.1038/s42003-024-05946-8Biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer Arctic fjordsCora Hörstmann0Tore Hattermann1Pauline C. Thomé2Pier Luigi Buttigieg3Isidora Morel4Anya M. Waite5Uwe John6Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine ResearchNorwegian Polar Institute, iC3: Centre for Ice, Cryosphere, Carbon and Climate, FramsenteretLeibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland FisheriesHelmholtz Metadata Collaboration, GEOMARMax Planck Institute for Marine MicrobiologyOcean Frontier Institute, Dalhousie UniversityAlfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine ResearchAbstract Climate change is opening the Arctic Ocean to increasing human impact and ecosystem changes. Arctic fjords, the region’s most productive ecosystems, are sustained by a diverse microbial community at the base of the food web. Here we show that Arctic fjords become more prokaryotic in the picoplankton (0.2–3 µm) with increasing water temperatures. Across 21 fjords, we found that Arctic fjords had proportionally more trophically diverse (autotrophic, mixotrophic, and heterotrophic) picoeukaryotes, while subarctic and temperate fjords had relatively more diverse prokaryotic trophic groups. Modeled oceanographic connectivity between fjords suggested that transport alone would create a smooth gradient in beta diversity largely following the North Atlantic Current and East Greenland Current. Deviations from this suggested that picoeukaryotes had some strong regional patterns in beta diversity that reduced the effect of oceanographic connectivity, while prokaryotes were mainly stopped in their dispersal if strong temperature differences between sites were present. Fjords located in high Arctic regions also generally had very low prokaryotic alpha diversity. Ultimately, warming of Arctic fjords could induce a fundamental shift from more trophic diverse eukaryotic- to prokaryotic-dominated communities, with profound implications for Arctic ecosystem dynamics including their productivity patterns.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05946-8 |
| spellingShingle | Cora Hörstmann Tore Hattermann Pauline C. Thomé Pier Luigi Buttigieg Isidora Morel Anya M. Waite Uwe John Biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer Arctic fjords Communications Biology |
| title | Biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer Arctic fjords |
| title_full | Biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer Arctic fjords |
| title_fullStr | Biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer Arctic fjords |
| title_full_unstemmed | Biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer Arctic fjords |
| title_short | Biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer Arctic fjords |
| title_sort | biogeographic gradients of picoplankton diversity indicate increasing dominance of prokaryotes in warmer arctic fjords |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05946-8 |
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