Application of microbial network analysis to discriminate environmental heterogeneity in Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica

In order to determine the practicability of developing a protocol for bioassessing polar marine environment based on network analysis, microplankton communities and co-occurrence patterns at Ardley Cove and Great Wall Cove (King George Island, Antarctica) were studied in January 2016 through high-through sequencing. The spatial patterns and significant differences between community structures in two coves clearly reflect those in environmental heterogeneity. Moreover, both coves had their discriminated network structure and keystones. Then multivariate analyses to quantify the relationship between environmental variation and planktonic microbes response, give further evidence that nitrate and temperature, alone or in combination with other several parameters, structuring the communities respectively indeed. This study presents the first detailed description on co-occurrence networks between microbes and local environmental parameters in Antarctic coastal water. These findings suggest that co-occurrence networks based on planktonic microbes have the robust potential to assess environmental heterogeneity in polar marine ecosystem.