Journal Article

Spatial Distribution Patterns of Bacterioplankton in the Oxygen Minimum Zone of the Tropical Mexican Pacific

Pajares, Silvia, Hernández-Becerril, David Uriel, Varona-Cordero, Francisco

2020

Overview

Microbial communities within oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are crucial drivers of marine biogeochemical cycles; however, we still lack an understanding of how these communities are distributed across an OMZ. We explored vertical (from 5 to 500 m depth) and horizontal (coast to open ocean) distribution of bacterioplankton and its relationships with the main oceanographic conditions in three transects of the tropical Mexican Pacific OMZ. The distribution of the microbial diversity and the main clades changed along the transition from oxygen-rich surface water to the OMZ core, demonstrating the sensitivity of key bacterial groups to deoxygenation. The euphotic zone was dominated by Synechococcales, followed by Flavobacteriales, Verrucomicrobiales, Rhodobacterales, SAR86, and Cellvibrionales, whereas the OMZ core was dominated by SAR11, followed by SAR406, SAR324, SAR202, UBA10353 marine group, Thiomicrospirales and Nitrospinales. The marked environmental gradients along the water column also supported a high potential for niche partitioning among OMZ microorganisms. Additionally, in the OMZ core, bacterial assemblages from the same water mass were more similar to each other than those from another water mass. There were also important differences between coastal and open-ocean communities: Flavobacteriales, Verrucomicrobiales, Rhodobacterales, SAR86, and Cellvibrionales were more abundant in coastal areas, while Synechococcales, SAR406, SAR324, SAR202, UBA10353 marine group, and Thiomicrospirales were more abundant in the open ocean. Our results suggest a biogeographic structure of the bacterioplankton in this OMZ region, with limited community mixing across water masses, except in upwelling events, and little dispersion of the community by currents in the euphotic zone.

• Publisher: Springer Science + Business Media,Springer US,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Bacterial Physiological Phenomena / Bacterioplankton / Biogeochemical cycle / Biogeochemical cycles / Biogeochemistry / Biogeography / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Cellvibrionales / Chlorophyll / Climate change / Coastal zone / Coasts / Deoxygenation / Distribution / Distribution patterns / ecological differentiation / Ecology / Environmental gradient / Euphotic zone / Flavobacteriales / Flow cytometry / Genetic testing / Geoecology/Natural Processes / geographical distribution / Life Sciences / Mexico / Microbial activity / microbial communities / Microbial Ecology / Microbiology / MICROBIOLOGY OF AQUATIC SYSTEMS / Microbiota - physiology / Microorganisms / Nanoplankton / Nature Conservation / Niche overlap / Niches / Ocean circulation / Oceanic analysis / Oxygen / Oxygen - analysis / Pacific Ocean / Plankton / Plankton - physiology / Respiration / Rhodobacterales / Seawater / Seawater - microbiology / Spatial distribution / Surface water / Synechococcales / Testing laboratories / Tropical Climate / Upwelling / Verrucomicrobiales / Water circulation / Water column / Water masses / Water Quality/Water Pollution