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Diatoms Are Selective Segregators in Global Ocean Planktonic Communities
Flora Vincent1, Chris Bowler2,3
1lnstitut de Biologie de l'ENS, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, Paris, France.
Msystems
|January 23, 2020
Summary
Diatom interactions are mostly driven by other organisms, not environment. Top-down pressure from predators and parasites significantly shapes diatom biogeography globally.
Area of Science:
- Marine microbial ecology
- Phytoplankton biology
- Biogeochemical cycles
Background:
- Diatoms are crucial phytoplankton, driving ~20% of Earth's primary production.
- They engage in diverse biotic interactions within plankton communities.
- Understanding these interactions is key to marine ecosystem function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze diatom biotic interactions using co-occurrence networks.
- To differentiate environmental vs. biotic drivers of diatom associations.
- To assess the impact of top-down pressure on diatom biogeography.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of co-occurrence networks from the Tara Oceans expedition.
- Inclusion of biotic and abiotic factors in spatial distribution models.
- Compilation of an open-access literature survey on diatom interactions.
Main Results:
- Only 13% of diatom associations are environmentally driven; most are independent.
- Diatoms exhibit more negative correlations with other organisms globally, especially predators.
- Abundant diatoms are not always the most connected; species-specific patterns dominate.
Conclusions:
- Diatom biogeography is significantly constrained by top-down ecological pressures.
- A vast amount of diatom biotic interactions remain undiscovered.
- An ecosystem approach is proposed to further explore marine diatom interactions.
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