Environmental gradients and habitat specificity structure benthic microbial assemblages in a temperate seagrass ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: Seagrass meadows are globally distributed coastal ecosystems that provide habitats for diverse species and facilitate ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and nutrient cycling. However, factors linked to human activities and climate change are causing seagrass decline worldwide, thus impacting benthic community structure and ecosystem functioning. Although macrofaunal communities in seagrass habitats are well studied, the structure and function of bacteria/archaea and microeukaryote assemblages remains underexplored. In this study, we used environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding (16S and 18S rRNA genes) to analyze bacteria/archaea (16S), microeukaryotes (18S raw sediment), and meiofauna (18S Ludox) communities in seagrass and bare sediment habitats across three sites along an estuarin

SUBMITTER: Serrano GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12803181 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature