Insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient-depleted environment of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre
ABSTRACTOcean microorganisms constitute ~70% of the marine biomass, contribute to ~50% of the Earth’s primary production, and play a vital role in global biogeochemical cycles. The marine heterotrophic and mixotrophic protistan and fungal communities have often been overlooked mainly due to limitati...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Microbiology Spectrum |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.03016-23 |
| _version_ | 1827329412138270720 |
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| author | Katarina Kajan Bernhard M. Fuchs Sandi Orlić |
| author_facet | Katarina Kajan Bernhard M. Fuchs Sandi Orlić |
| author_sort | Katarina Kajan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACTOcean microorganisms constitute ~70% of the marine biomass, contribute to ~50% of the Earth’s primary production, and play a vital role in global biogeochemical cycles. The marine heterotrophic and mixotrophic protistan and fungal communities have often been overlooked mainly due to limitations in morphological species identification. Despite the accumulation of studies on biogeographic patterns observed in microbial communities, our understanding of the abundance and distribution patterns within the microbial community of the largest subtropical gyre, the South Pacific Gyre (SPG), remains incomplete. Here, we investigated the diversity and vertical composition of protistan and fungal communities in the water column of the ultra-oligotrophic SPG. Our results showed apparent differences in protistan community diversity in the photic and aphotic regions. The entire protistan community diversity was significantly affected by temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrient concentrations, while the parasitic community diversity was also affected by chlorophyll a concentration. The parasitic protists were assigned to the class Syndiniales accounting for over 98% of the total parasitic protists, exhibiting higher relative sequence abundance along the water depth and displaying consistent patterns among different sampling stations. In contrast to the protistan community, the fungal community along the SPG primarily clustered based on the sampling station and pelagic zones. In particular, our study reveals a significant presence of parasitic protists and functionally diverse fungi in SPG and their potential impact on carbon cycling in the gyre.IMPORTANCEOur findings carry important implications for understanding the distribution patterns of the previously unrecognized occurrence of parasitic protists and functionally diverse fungi in the nutrient-limited South Pacific Gyre. In particular, our study reveals a significant presence of parasitic Syndiniales, predominantly abundant in the upper 300 m of the aphotic zone in the gyre, and a distinct presence of fungal communities in the aphotic zone at the central part of the gyre. These findings strongly suggest that these communities play a substantial role in yet insufficiently described microbial food web. Moreover, our research enhances our understanding of their contribution to the dynamics of the food webs in oligotrophic gyres and is valuable for projecting the ecological consequences of future climate warming. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:33:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c68a5b3199ad4462bc7a9117c3e321db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2165-0497 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:33:01Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microbiology Spectrum |
| spelling | doaj.art-c68a5b3199ad4462bc7a9117c3e321db2024-03-05T14:04:37ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologyMicrobiology Spectrum2165-04972024-03-0112310.1128/spectrum.03016-23Insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient-depleted environment of the South Pacific Subtropical GyreKatarina Kajan0Bernhard M. Fuchs1Sandi Orlić2Division of Materials Chemistry, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, CroatiaDepartment of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, GermanyDivision of Materials Chemistry, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, CroatiaABSTRACTOcean microorganisms constitute ~70% of the marine biomass, contribute to ~50% of the Earth’s primary production, and play a vital role in global biogeochemical cycles. The marine heterotrophic and mixotrophic protistan and fungal communities have often been overlooked mainly due to limitations in morphological species identification. Despite the accumulation of studies on biogeographic patterns observed in microbial communities, our understanding of the abundance and distribution patterns within the microbial community of the largest subtropical gyre, the South Pacific Gyre (SPG), remains incomplete. Here, we investigated the diversity and vertical composition of protistan and fungal communities in the water column of the ultra-oligotrophic SPG. Our results showed apparent differences in protistan community diversity in the photic and aphotic regions. The entire protistan community diversity was significantly affected by temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrient concentrations, while the parasitic community diversity was also affected by chlorophyll a concentration. The parasitic protists were assigned to the class Syndiniales accounting for over 98% of the total parasitic protists, exhibiting higher relative sequence abundance along the water depth and displaying consistent patterns among different sampling stations. In contrast to the protistan community, the fungal community along the SPG primarily clustered based on the sampling station and pelagic zones. In particular, our study reveals a significant presence of parasitic protists and functionally diverse fungi in SPG and their potential impact on carbon cycling in the gyre.IMPORTANCEOur findings carry important implications for understanding the distribution patterns of the previously unrecognized occurrence of parasitic protists and functionally diverse fungi in the nutrient-limited South Pacific Gyre. In particular, our study reveals a significant presence of parasitic Syndiniales, predominantly abundant in the upper 300 m of the aphotic zone in the gyre, and a distinct presence of fungal communities in the aphotic zone at the central part of the gyre. These findings strongly suggest that these communities play a substantial role in yet insufficiently described microbial food web. Moreover, our research enhances our understanding of their contribution to the dynamics of the food webs in oligotrophic gyres and is valuable for projecting the ecological consequences of future climate warming.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.03016-23South Pacific Subtropical Gyreparasitic protistsfungi |
| spellingShingle | Katarina Kajan Bernhard M. Fuchs Sandi Orlić Insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient-depleted environment of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre Microbiology Spectrum South Pacific Subtropical Gyre parasitic protists fungi |
| title | Insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient-depleted environment of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_full | Insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient-depleted environment of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_fullStr | Insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient-depleted environment of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_full_unstemmed | Insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient-depleted environment of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_short | Insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient-depleted environment of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre |
| title_sort | insight into planktonic protistan and fungal communities across the nutrient depleted environment of the south pacific subtropical gyre |
| topic | South Pacific Subtropical Gyre parasitic protists fungi |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.03016-23 |
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