Composition and assembly of the bacterial community in the overlying waters of the coral reef of China's Xisha Islands.

ABSTRACT: Coral reef ecosystems are one of the most diverse and productive habitats on Earth. Microbes in the reef-overlying waters are key players in maintaining this ecosystem through regulating biogeochemical and ecological processes. However, the composition structure and assembly mechanism of microbial community in the reef-overlying waters remain largely unknown. In the present study, the bacterial communities from the overlying waters of atolls and fringing reefs as well as the surface waters of the adjacent open ocean of the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea were investigated using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing combined with a size-fractionation strategy. The results showed that environments of all sampling stations were similar, characterized by an almost complete lack of inorganic

SUBMITTER: Liu SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9797850 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature