Spatial diversity of bacterioplankton communities in surface water of northern South China Sea.
The South China Sea is one of the largest marginal seas, with relatively frequent passage of eddies and featuring distinct spatial variation in the western tropical Pacific Ocean. Here, we report a phylogenetic study of bacterial community structures in surface seawater of the northern South China Sea (nSCS). Samples collected from 31 sites across large environmental gradients were used to construct clone libraries and yielded 2,443 sequences grouped into 170 OTUs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 23 bacterial classes with major components α-, β- and γ-Proteobacteria, as well as Cyanobacteria. At class and genus taxon levels, community structure of coastal waters was distinctively different from that of deep-sea waters and displayed a higher diversity index. Redundancy analyses revealed that bacterial community structures displayed a significant correlation with the water depth of individual sampling sites. Members of α-Proteobacteria were the principal component contributing to the differences of the clone libraries. Furthermore, the bacterial communities exhibited heterogeneity within zones of upwelling and anticyclonic eddies. Our results suggested that surface bacterial communities in nSCS had two-level patterns of spatial distribution structured by ecological types (coastal VS. oceanic zones) and mesoscale physical processes, and also provided evidence for bacterial phylogenetic phyla shaped by ecological preferences.
Key Laboratory of Coastal Biology and Bioresource Utilization, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China.
Jialin
J
Li
Key Laboratory of Coastal Biology and Bioresource Utilization, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China.
Nan
N
Li
Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China.
Fuchao
F
Li
Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China.
Tao
T
Zou
Key Laboratory of Coastal Biology and Bioresource Utilization, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China; Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Shuxian
S
Yu
Key Laboratory of Coastal Biology and Bioresource Utilization, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China; Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yinchu
Y
Wang
Key Laboratory of Coastal Biology and Bioresource Utilization, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China.
Song
S
Qin
Tianjin University Center for Marine Environmental Ecology, School of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China; Department of Microbiology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America.
Guangyi
G
Wang
D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D005843:Geography; D010802:Phylogeny; D010839:Phytoplankton / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D062206:Spatial Analysis; D014871:Water Microbiology
D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S