Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2017, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (1): 72-80.doi: 10.11978/2016034CSTR: 32234.14.2016034

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Diel variation of community structure of planktonic ciliates in coastal ecosystem of Sanya Bay

Youjun WANG1,2(), Cuilian XU1,2, Simin HU1, Tao LI1,3, Sheng LIU1()   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3. Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, China
  • Received:2016-04-05 Revised:2016-05-13 Online:2017-01-18 Published:2017-01-19
  • Supported by:
    Strategic Priority Research Programof the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA13020102);National Natural Science Foundation of China (41276160);Science and Technology plan Projects of Guangdong Province (2015A020216013)

Abstract:

Planktonic ciliates are widespread micro-zooplankton in marine ecosystem and are considered as a key link between microbial loop and classic food chain as they play important roles in transfer processes of material and energy in the ecosystem. To better understand the distribution and ecological function of planktonic ciliates in tropical ecosystem, ciliate samples were collected in the coastal waters of Sanya Bay at 6:00, 12:00, 18:00 and 24:00, respectively, in April 2014. Species diversity and community structure of ciliate from different times were analyzed by molecular detection based on species-specific primers. The results were as follows. 1) Planktonic ciliate showed high diversity, with about 79 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) detected. 2) Significant variation of species diversity was uncovered at different times during a day, showing a decrease trend in day time but increase trend at night time and the order was morning [48 OUTs(operational taxonomic units)] > night (37 OTUs) > evening (32 OTUs) >midday (29 OTUs). The reason may be that different ciliate populations have different distribution modes.

Key words: Sanya Bay, planktonic ciliates, diversity, diel variation