Bacterioplankton Metacommunity Processes across Thermal Gradients: Weaker Species Sorting but Stronger Niche Segregation in Summer than in Winter in a Subtropical Bay.

ABSTRACT: Thermal effluents from nuclear power plants greatly change the environmental and ecological conditions of the receiving marine water body, but knowledge about their impact on microbial ecology is limited. Here we used high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to examine marine bacterioplankton metacommunity assembly across thermal gradients in two representative seasons (i.e., winter and summer) in a subtropical bay located on the northern coast of the South China Sea. We found high heterogeneity in bacterioplankton community compositions (BCCs) across thermal gradients and between seasons. The spatially structured temperature gradient created by thermal effluents was the key determinant of BCCs, but its influence differed by season. Using a metacommunity approach, we found that in t

SUBMITTER: Ren L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6328778 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature