4.6 Article

A halo of reduced dinoflagellate abundances in and around eelgrass beds

期刊

PEERJ
卷 8, 期 -, 页码 -

出版社

PEERJ INC
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8869

关键词

Eelgrass; Harmful algal bloom; Dinoflagellates; Environmental DNA; Zostera marina; Allelopathy

资金

  1. Washington State Department of Natural Resources [93-096140]

向作者/读者索取更多资源

Seagrass beds provide a variety of ecosystem services, both within and outside the bounds of the habitat itself. Here we use environmental DNA (eDNA) amplicons to analyze a broad cross-section of taxa from ecological communities in and immediately surrounding eelgrass (Zostera marina). Sampling seawater along transects extending alongshore outward from eelgrass beds, we demonstrate that eDNA provides meter-scale resolution of communities in the field. We evaluate eDNA abundance indices for 13 major phylogenetic groups of marine and estuarine taxa along these transects, finding highly local changes linked with proximity to Z. marina for a diverse group of dinoflagellates, and for no other group of taxa. Eelgrass habitat is consistently associated with dramatic reductions in dinoflagellate abundance both within the contiguous beds and for at least 15 m outside, relative to nearby sites without eelgrass. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that eelgrass-associated communities have allelopathic effects on dinoflagellates, and that these effects can extend in a halo beyond the bounds of the contiguous beds. Because many dinoflagellates are capable of forming harmful algal blooms (HABs) toxic to humans and other animal species, the apparent salutary effect of eelgrass habitat on neighboring waters has important implications for public health as well as shellfish aquaculture and harvesting.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.6
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据