Water masses shape pico-nano eukaryotic communities of the Weddell Sea.

ABSTRACT: Polar oceans belong to the most productive and rapidly changing environments, yet our understanding of this fragile ecosystem remains limited. Here we present an analysis of a unique set of DNA metabarcoding samples from the western Weddell Sea sampled throughout the whole water column and across five water masses with different characteristics and different origin. We focus on factors affecting the distribution of planktonic pico-nano eukaryotes and observe an ecological succession of eukaryotic communities as the water masses move away from the surface and as oxygen becomes depleted with time. At the beginning of this succession, in the photic zone, algae, bacteriovores, and predators of small eukaryotes dominate the community, while another community develops as the water sinks deeper,

SUBMITTER: Flegontova O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9849203 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature