Oceanographic boundaries constrain microbial diversity gradients in the South Pacific Ocean

Marine microbes along with microeukaryotes are key regulators of oceanic biogeochemical pathways. Here we present a high-resolution (every 0.5 of latitude) dataset describing microbial pro- and eukaryotic richness in the surface and just below the thermocline along a 7,000-km transect from 66S at th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Main Authors: Raes, EJ, Bodrossy, L, van de Kamp, J, Bissett, A, Ostrowski, M, Brown, MV, Sow, SLS, Sloyan, B, Waite, AM
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Natl Acad Sciences 2018
Subjects:
Biological Sciences
Ecology
Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology)
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Austral
Pacific
Antarc*
Online Access:http://www.pnas.org/content/115/35/E8266
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1719335115
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30108147
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/128452
Description
Summary:Marine microbes along with microeukaryotes are key regulators of oceanic biogeochemical pathways. Here we present a high-resolution (every 0.5 of latitude) dataset describing microbial pro- and eukaryotic richness in the surface and just below the thermocline along a 7,000-km transect from 66S at the Antarctic ice edge to the equator in the South Pacific Ocean. The transect, conducted in austral winter, covered key oceanographic features including crossing of the polar front (PF), the subtropical front (STF), and the equatorial upwelling region. Our data indicate that temperature does not determine patterns of marine microbial richness, complementing the global model data from Ladau et al. [Ladau J, et al. (2013) ISME J 7:16691677]. Rather, NH 4 + , nanophytoplankton, and primary productivity were the main drivers for archaeal and bacterial richness. Eukaryote richness was highest in the least-productive ocean region, the tropical oligotrophic province. We also observed a unique diversity pattern in the South Pacific Ocean: a regional increase in archaeal and bacterial diversity between 10S and the equator. Rapoports rule describes the tendency for the latitudinal ranges of species to increase with latitude. Our data showed that the mean latitudinal ranges of archaea and bacteria decreased with latitude. We show that permanent oceanographic features, such as the STF and the equatorial upwelling, can have a significant influence on both alpha-diversity and beta-diversity of pro- and eukaryotes.

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