Do trophic strategies shape biogeography and environmental niches? Marine dinoflagellates as a case study.

ABSTRACT: Marine unicellular eukaryotes (protists) exhibit a wide spectrum of trophic strategies ranging from specialists (strict phototrophy or strict phagotrophy) to generalist (mixotrophy). Generalist strategies enable flexibility in nutrient sources, which impacts biogeochemical cycles, energy fluxes in planktonic food webs as well as species biogeography. Dinoflagellates exhibit specialist and generalist trophic strategies, making them a key group for studying the ecological success of trophic traits from a biogeographical perspective. Yet, our understanding of what drives their biogeography remains limited although they are a major component of planktonic communities. Here, we combine one of the largest environmental genomics databases with state-of-the-art species distribution modelling to te

SUBMITTER: Rihm G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12452278 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature