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Effects of Hypoxia on the Phylogenetic Composition and Species Distribution of Protists in a Subtropical Harbor

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

Tolo Harbor, a subtropical semi-enclosed coastal water body, is surrounded by an expanding urban community, which contributes to large concentrations of nutrient runoff, leading to algal blooms and localized hypoxic episodes. Present knowledge of protist distributions in subtropical waters during hypoxic conditions is very limited. In this study, therefore, we combined parallel 454 pyrosequencing technology and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprint analyses to reveal the protist community shifts before, during, and after a 2-week hypoxic episode during the summer of 2011. Hierarchical clustering for DGGE demonstrated similar grouping of hypoxic samples separately from oxic samples. Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and dissolved inorganic nitrogen:phosphate (DIN:PO4) concentrations significantly affected OTU distribution in 454 sequenced samples, and a shift toward a ciliate and marine alveolate clade II (MALV II) species composition occurred as waters shifted from oxic to hypoxic. These results suggest that protist community shifts toward heterotrophic and parasitic tendencies as well as decreased diversity and richness in response to hypoxic outbreaks.

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Acknowledgments

We thank LokLun Shek and Candy Lam for helping to collect the water samples and physical-chemical parameters and Mingming Sun for her help with 454 pyrosequencing preparation. This research is supported by the University Grants Committee (UGC) Areas of Excellence Scheme (AoE/P-04/04); the Research Grants Council’s GRF grants (661610, 661911, and 661912); and the Department of Agriculture, Fishery, and Conservation (AFCD) of Hong Kong SAR under contract AFCD08-07 L04810/11PG.

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  1. Division of Life Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Emma Rocke, Hongmei Jing, Xiaomin Xia & Hongbin Liu

  2. Sanya Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China

    Hongmei Jing

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  1. Emma Rocke
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Correspondence to Hongbin Liu.

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Rocke, E., Jing, H., Xia, X. et al. Effects of Hypoxia on the Phylogenetic Composition and Species Distribution of Protists in a Subtropical Harbor. Microb Ecol 72, 96–105 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-016-0751-7

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