Composition and Distribution of Microeukaryotic Communities in the Surface Sediments of Five Geographic Regions of Bohai Sea Based on 18S rDNA Amplicon Sequencing

Abstract

The Bohai Sea is a semi-enclosed shallow water that is influenced by both natural and anthropogenic stressors. However, the microeukaryotic communities and environmental factors that affect them in different regions remain largely unclear. We investigated microeukaryotic communities in surface sediments from five geographic regions using high-throughput sequencing of the 18S rDNA gene. The Miaodao Archipelago, Yellow River Estuary, and Central Bohai Sea had the highest Shannon and Simpson indices of the eukaryotic communities, while the Yellow River Estuary exhibited the highest Chao1 index. The microeukaryotic communities in surface sediments were mainly composed of Dinoflagellata, Bacillariophyta, Ciliophora, Cercozoa, and Protalveolata. Thalassiosira has a relatively high abundance at the Liaodong Bay and Central Bohai Sea, possessing the proportion of 41.70% and 38.10%, respectively, while Gonyaulax was the most abundant taxa in the Bohai Bay, occupying a proportion of 57.77%. Moreover, a negative correlation between diatoms and dinoflagellates was observed. Phosphorus, nitrogen, salinity, temperature, and silicate were major environmental determinants of microeukaryotic composition. Microeukaryotic communities in the surface sediments, especially for the composition and ratio of diatoms to dinoflagellates, reflected the environmental quality of marine ecosystems. Overall, these microeukaryotic community compositions provide a reliable indicator for monitoring the level of marine eutrophication in the Bohai Sea.