Seasonal Shifts from Water Depth to Nitrate Reorganize Protistan Communities Following Lake Freeze-Thaw Events.

ABSTRACT: The seasonal freeze-thaw cycle induces a fundamental regime shift in lake ecosystems, primarily through the restructuring of microbial communities. This study investigated the dynamics and mechanisms of species diversity maintenance in protistan communities in Gonghai Lake, a shallow subalpine lake in China, across both ice-covered and ice-free periods. During ice cover, the protistan community exhibited a vertically stratified structure dominated by cryotolerant diatoms such as Stephanodiscus. Following thaw, the community transitioned to a more homogeneous, resource-driven assembly. Concurrently, the key environmental controls shifted from physical stratification (proxied by depth) to resource availability (notably NO₃^- and TOC), a change reflected in the tax

SUBMITTER: Zhou Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12736319 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature