Spatial patterns of functional diversity and composition in marine benthic ciliates along the coast of China

Abstract

Large-scale patterns of community composition and diversity along environmental gradients have been well studied for macroorganisms. However, the biogeography of microorganisms, especially ciliated protozoa, remains understudied. Here, we analyzed a comprehensive database of marine benthic ciliates found along the coast of China from 1991 to 2018 to examine the geographical patterns in species and trait composition and functional diversity. According to redundancy analysis conducted at large spatial scales, environmental variables, i.e. habitat type and salinity, explained more variance in species composition than latitude. In contrast, trait composition was better explained by spatial and climatic variables. At small spatial scales, both species and trait composition were probably influenced by mass effects due to the high dispersal ability of ciliates at such small scales, resulting in spatially homogenized communities. Several traits, including body size, feeding type and mobility, exhibited significant positive or negative latitudinal gradients. Functional diversity showed a significant positive correlation with latitude between 20 and 40° N, which may be caused by certain groups of ciliates possessing particular traits related to temperature. Our study is the first comprehensive evaluation of how trait composition and functional diversity of marine ciliated protozoa vary at large scales and can thus make a major contribution to the study of microbial biogeography.

Distribution Patterns of Ciliate Diversity in the South China Sea

“…Among the habitat type groupings, the composition patterns also exhibited notable variations in our study especially for feeding habit trait (Figure 3). It is widely accepted that the variation of feeding habit composition can be attributed to the responses of ciliate communities to environmental and spatial changes in marine water (Xu et al, 2018, Xu andSoininen, 2019). In our study, for example, the proportion of bacterivores in mangroves is higher than other habitats, which was apparently correlated with the higher bacteria production due to the sufficient accumulation of organic detritus in mangroves compared with other habitats.…”

“…The ANOSIM analyses showed that the community variations of ciliates among the intertidal, neritic, and oceanic areas can be clearly distinguished for all taxonomic, motility, and feeding habit compositions. Similarly, both species and trait compositions showed spatial variations of benthic ciliates along the coast of China (Xu and Soininen, 2019). These suggest that taxonomic and ecological traits can give the same result in exploring the geographical patterns of ciliates on a large scale.…”

“…Communities in Terms of Taxonomy, Motility, and Feeding Habits Since ecological traits consider organisms as dynamic entities that interact with their environment, trait-based approaches make science more predictive and able to forecast ecosystem alterations occurring under rapid environmental changes (Laureto et al, 2015;Xu and Soininen, 2019). Our study provided an opportunity to evaluate potential significance of taxonomy and ecological traits in clarifying the community variation of ciliates.…”

Effects of salt marsh restoration on eukaryotic microbenthic communities in the Yangtze Estuary

“…Five traits, sub-divided into 13 categories, were selected according to Xu & Soininen (2019). The traits reflect morphological characteristics (body size, degree of flexibility, and body form) and behavior (feeding and mobility) ( Table S1 in the Supplement at www.…”

Abordagem funcional no estudo da comunidade de ciliados em uma estação de tratamento de esgoto combinada UASB-lodo ativado

“…investigaram se as propriedades do solo durante a secagem de áreas alagadas ("wetlands") são influenciadas pelas características funcionais das plantas que compõem a vegetação e comprovaram2.3.2 Diversidade funcional em estudos com CiliophoraDe acordo com Weisse (2017) a pesquisa sobre diversidade funcional aplicada aos ciliados ainda está nos seus primórdios, pois são necessárias muitas informações para estabelecer os traços para estes organismos que ainda são desconhecidos. Estudos foram realizados em diferentes ecossistemas, como no solo por Coûteaux & Darbyshire (1998), em águas costeiras(XU, H. et al, 2016;ZHAO et al, 2016;ZHONG et al, 2017;AL et al, 2018a;XU, G. et al, 2018b;XU & SOININEN, 2019;ZHONG et al, 2019;GUI et al, 2020;GUO et al, 2020), em áreas alagadas "wetlands"XU, Y. et al, 2018b;LIU et al, 2019;composição funcional da comunidade de protistas ciliados,Xu, H. et al (2016) utilizaram a abordagem funcional espacialmente para viabilizar o uso de traços funcionais para a comunidade de ciliados na bioavaliação da qualidade da água em ambientes marinhos Al et al (2018b). assumindo que a disponibilidade de alimento é diferente ao longo da coluna d'água, funcionais(XU, Y. et al 2018b).…”