Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2022, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (5): 121-132.doi: 10.11978/2022005CSTR: 32234.14.2022005

• Marine Biology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Noctiluca scintillans effects on eukaryotic plankton community structure using Environmental DNA analysis in Daya Bay*

CHEN Jingfu1,2,3(), ZHONG Yu1,4, WANG Lei1,2, GUO Yupei1,2, QIU Dajun1,2,3()   

  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. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China
    4. Marine Biology Research Station at Daya Bay, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518121, China
  • Received:2022-01-10 Revised:2022-04-05 Online:2022-09-10 Published:2022-09-30
  • Contact: QIU Dajun E-mail:chenjingfu19@mails.ucas.ac.cn;djqiu@scsio.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(41776154);Key Special Project for Introduced Talents Team of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory(GML2019ZD0405)

Abstract:

Noctiluca scintillans is a key blooms species and widely distributed throughout the world. Previous studies indicated that the plankton community was strongly influenced by the predation of N. scintillans. In this study, eukaryotic plankton community and biological correlation in the Daya Bay were analyzed using environmental DNA technology and Spearman correlate analysis in January 2021. The temperature and salinity of surface sea water were 14.4 ~ 18.3 ℃ and 32.52 ‰ ~ 33.14 ‰, respectively. In the stations with high N. scintillans abundance, the relative abundance of phytoplankton, such as Chattonellaceae and Thalassiosiraceae were 2.41 % and 2.23 %, which is significantly higher than the average values of 0.75 % and 0.62 % at other stations, respectively. While the relative abundances of Paracalanidae and Oithonidae were 8.22 % and 4.46 % at high N. scintillans abundance stations, which is significantly lower than the average value of 64.13 % and 11.12 % at other stations, respectively. These results indicated that N. scintillans reduced the top-down control of Paracalanidae on phytoplankton including Chattonellaceae, Thalassiosiraceae, Prorocentraceae and Geminigeraceae which led to an increase in the abundance of some plankton species in the blooms areas. Meanwhile, Gymnodiniaceae and Stephanopyxidaceae were fed by N. scintillans, which directly affected the community abundance of phytoplankton. Our analysis suggests that eDNA technology provides the methodological basis for understanding the ecological niche of N. scintillans, which would ultimately contribute to understanding the occurrence of blooms strategies.

Key words: Daya Bay, environmental DNA, Noctiluca scintillans, feeding habits, Eukaryotic plankton, community structure

CLC Number: 

  • P735.124