Diazotroph Diversity Associated With Scleractinian Corals and Its Relationships With Environmental Variables in the South China Sea.

ABSTRACT: Coral reef ecosystems cannot operate normally without an effective nitrogen cycle. For oligotrophic coral reef areas, coral-associated diazotrophs are indispensable participants in the nitrogen cycle. However, the distribution of these diazotrophs and the correlation with the physical and chemical variables of the surrounding seawater remain unclear. To this end, 68 scleractinian coral colonies were sampled from 6 coral reef areas with different environmental variables in the South China Sea to investigate the composition of associated diazotrophs based on nifH gene amplification using high-throughput sequencing. The six coral reefs can be clearly divided into two types (fringing reefs and island reefs), are affected by varying degrees of human activities and are located at differen

SUBMITTER: Liang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7314963 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature