Protist diversity and community structure around the Xianbei Seamount in the South China Sea.

ABSTRACT: Seamounts are topographic rises of the seabed that represent one of the most common underwater ecosystems worldwide. Marine protists comprise various species with complex ecological functions. However, protist communities in seamount-associated ecosystems have not been adequately studied. In this study, we investigated planktonic protist communities around the Xianbei Seamount in the South China Sea. The entire protist community was profiled using universal primers for the 18S rRNA gene, whereas diplonemids (i.e., partial protist communities) were specifically explored using group-specific primers, and the cell numbers of the diplonemids were quantified based on copy numbers. We found that the alpha diversity (richness and Shannon indices) of the entire and partial protist communities sign

SUBMITTER: Wu W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12772313 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature