This repository contains all the materials associated with the bachelor thesis for the Department of Life Science at Jacobs University Bremen.
Title: “Characterization and Global Comparison of Eukaryotic Microbial Diversity and Temporal Community Dynamics Associated with the Seasonal Algal Blooms in the Fram Strait”
Authors: Matomo Niwano, Pier Luigi Buttigieg, Matthias Ullrich
Submission date: May 15th 2020
Abstract:
The recent advent of high throughput sequencing and metagenomics analysis has significantly contributed to the insight of marine ecosystems at microbial scale. However, the temporal dynamics of microbial diversity across the global marine ecosystems are still poorly understood. Particularly, characterizing the eukaryotic communities responsible for the seasonal algal blooms can potentially help the prediction of environmental changes and the development of the future ocean observatories. Thus, we investigated the temporal dynamics of eukaryotic microbial diversity during the seasonal algal blooms in the Fram Strait in the Arctic, using high-throughput sequencing of 18s rRNA amplicons. The analysis detected the enrichment of phytoplanktons and marine eumetazoan animals including Dinophyceae, parasitic Syndiniales, and Ctenophores in the spring bloom. In contrast, mixotrophic protists, such as Acantharia, were significantly enriched in the summer bloom. Additionally, the global comparisons with the eukaryotic diversity in the eastern English Channel and the northwestern Pacific Ocean demonstrated the inconsistent signals of seasonal community variations detected in the Fram Strait, suggesting that the seasonal eukaryotic diversity is largely influenced by the complex food web structures associated with the unique environmental gradients in the Arctic. Finally, the availability of standardized methodologies is essential to provide more accurate and reliable environmental observations.