Annual Protist Community Dynamics in a Freshwater Ecosystem Undergoing Contrasted Climatic Conditions: The Saint-Charles River (Canada).

ABSTRACT: Protists are key stone components of aquatic ecosystems, sustaining primary productivity and aquatic food webs. However, their diversity, ecology and structuring factors shaping their temporal distribution remain strongly misunderstood in freshwaters. Using high-throughput sequencing on water samples collected over 16 different months (including two summer and two winter periods), combined with geochemical measurements and climate monitoring, we comprehensively determined the pico- and nanoeukaryotic community composition and dynamics in a Canadian river undergoing prolonged ice-cover winters. Our analysis revealed a large protist diversity in this fluctuating ecosystem and clear seasonal patterns demonstrating a direct and/or indirect selective role of abiotic factors, such as water tempe

SUBMITTER: Cruaud P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6805768 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature