Drift, dispersal limitation, and homogeneous selection as key processes shaping prokaryotic community assembly in marine sediments.

ABSTRACT: Marine sediment contains some of the most abundant and diverse microbial communities; however, the ecological processes shaping the benthic microbial communities at the regional scale remains poorly understood. Using a high-coverage sampling strategy, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and ecological null models, we explored variation in the ecological processes governing benthic microbial community assembly in surface sediments across an extensive Southwest Atlantic basin. The relative importance of ecological processes varied between provinces, with drift, dispersal limitation, and homogeneous selection being the three main processes that shaped the communities. Phylogenetic bin-based analysis revealed a complex balance of assembly mechanisms, with drift dominating the majority of the bin assembl

SUBMITTER: Duque-Castano DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12619532 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature