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. 2021 Jan:146:106262.
doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106262. Epub 2020 Nov 19.

Protist taxonomic and functional diversity in soil, freshwater and marine ecosystems

David Singer  1 , Christophe V W Seppey  2 , Guillaume Lentendu  3 , Micah Dunthorn  4 , David Bass  5 , Lassâad Belbahri  3 , Quentin Blandenier  6 , Didier Debroas  7 , G Arjen de Groot  8 , Colomban de Vargas  9 , Isabelle Domaizon  10 , Clément Duckert  3 , Irina Izaguirre  11 , Isabelle Koenig  3 , Gabriela Mataloni  12 , M Romina Schiaffino  13 , Edward A D Mitchell  14 , Stefan Geisen  15 , Enrique Lara  16
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Free article

Protist taxonomic and functional diversity in soil, freshwater and marine ecosystems

David Singer et al. Environ Int. 2021 Jan.
Free article

Abstract

Protists dominate eukaryotic diversity and play key functional roles in all ecosystems, particularly by catalyzing carbon and nutrient cycling. To date, however, a comparative analysis of their taxonomic and functional diversity that compares the major ecosystems on Earth (soil, freshwater and marine systems) is missing. Here, we present a comparison of protist diversity based on standardized high throughput 18S rRNA gene sequencing of soil, freshwater and marine environmental DNA. Soil and freshwater protist communities were more similar to each other than to marine protist communities, with virtually no overlap of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) between terrestrial and marine habitats. Soil protists showed higher γ diversity than aquatic samples. Differences in taxonomic composition of the communities led to changes in a functional diversity among ecosystems, as expressed in relative abundance of consumers, phototrophs and parasites. Phototrophs (eukaryotic algae) dominated freshwater systems (49% of the sequences) and consumers soil and marine ecosystems (59% and 48%, respectively). The individual functional groups were composed of ecosystem- specific taxonomic groups. Parasites were equally common in all ecosystems, yet, terrestrial systems hosted more OTUs assigned to parasites of macro-organisms while aquatic systems contained mostly microbial parasitoids. Together, we show biogeographic patterns of protist diversity across major ecosystems on Earth, preparing the way for more focused studies that will help understanding the multiple roles of protists in the biosphere.

Keywords: Metabarcoding; Microbial eukaryotes; Ocean; Taxonomic and functional diversity; Terrestrial systems.

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