title: Seasonal variations of marine protist community structure based on taxon-specific traits using the eastern English Channel as a model coastal system.
abstract: Previous microscopy-based studies in the eastern English Channel have revealed it to be a productive meso-eutrophic coastal ecosystem, characterized by strong repeating patterns in microplankton succession. The present study examines the seasonal structure of the entire protistan community from March 2011 to July 2013, using tag pyrosequencing of the V2-V3 hypervariable region of the 18S rRNA gene. A total of 1242 OTUs and 28 high-level taxonomic groups, which included previously undetected taxa in the area, were identified. The detected OTUs were considered according to taxon-specific traits, which included their trophic role, abundance and specialization level. Taxa differentiation based on specialization level rather than abundance was more informative in describing community organization. While generalists were always abundant, numerous specialists that were either rare or absent in most samples, increased in abundance for short periods, appearing to be overall abundant. Statistical and network analyses showed that the protistan seasonal organization was influenced by environmental parameters. It also highlighted that in addition to grazers, fungi and parasites played potentially significant roles during phytoplankton blooms. Overall, while the protistan succession was mainly shaped by environmental variations, biotic interactions among co-occurring taxa were the main structural drivers of the temporal assemblages.
authors: Laboratoire d'Océanologie et Géosciences (LOG), UMR CNRS 8187, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (ULCO), 32 av. Foch, 62930 Wimereux, France.
authors: Savvas
authors: S
authors: Genitsaris
authors: Laboratoire d'Océanologie et Géosciences (LOG), UMR CNRS 8187, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (ULCO), 32 av. Foch, 62930 Wimereux, France.
authors: Sébastien
authors: S
authors: Monchy
authors: Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille (CIIL), Institut Pasteur of Lille, Inserm U1019, CNRS UMR 8204, University Lille Nord de France, Biology and Diversity of Emerging Eukaryotic Pathogens, EA4547 Lille, France.
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Viscogliosi
authors: Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome et Environnement (LMGE), UMR CNRS 6023, Université Blaise Pascal, BP 80026, 63171 Aubière Cedex, France.
authors: Télesphore
authors: T
authors: Sime-Ngando
authors: Genoscreen, Genomic Platform and R&D, 59800 Lille, France.
authors: Stéphanie
authors: S
authors: Ferreira
authors: Laboratoire d'Océanologie et Géosciences (LOG), UMR CNRS 8187, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (ULCO), 32 av. Foch, 62930 Wimereux, France urania.christaki@univ-littoral.fr.
authors: Urania
authors: U
authors: Christaki
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D010839:Phytoplankton / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D012621:Seasons; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S
keywords: 18S rRNA gene; generalists; specialists; succession; tag pyrosequencing; unicellular eukaryotes