Biogeography of heterotrophic flagellate populations indicates the presence of generalist and specialist taxa in the Arctic Ocean.

ABSTRACT: Heterotrophic marine flagellates (HF) are ubiquitous in the world's oceans and represented in nearly all branches of the domain Eukaryota. However, the factors determining distributions of major taxonomic groups are poorly known. The Arctic Ocean is a good model environment for examining the distribution of functionally similar but phylogenetically diverse HF because the physical oceanography and annual ice cycles result in distinct environments that could select for microbial communities or favor specific taxa. We reanalyzed new and previously published high-throughput sequencing data from multiple studies in the Arctic Ocean to identify broad patterns in the distribution of individual taxa. HF accounted for fewer than 2% to over one-half of the reads from the water column and for up to 6

SUBMITTER: Thaler M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4345384 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature