Seasonal succession of small planktonic eukaryotes inhabiting surface waters of a coastal upwelling system

Small eukaryotes (0.2-20 m cell-size) represent a significant fraction of the microbial plankton community in shelf waters of NW-Spain. The community composition of small eukaryotes living at the surface and at the base of the photic zone was analysed by means of 18S rDNA high-throughput sequencing on a circa-monthly basis over a 23 months period. Ostreococcus was the most abundant taxon in surface waters, showing marked peaks in read abundance in spring and late summer, while Syndiniales dominated at the base of the photic zone. A well-defined seasonal pattern of community composition, linked to the succession of the dominant taxa, was found in surface waters. Seasonality was less apparent at the base of the euphotic zone. Temporal changes in abiotic factors significantly correlated with changes in community composition in surface (r = 0.71) and at the base of the photic zone (r = 0.38). Changes in community composition significantly correlated with changes in community function-related variables (including biomass, primary production and respiration) only in surface water (r = 0.36). Co-occurrence network analyses revealed 45 significant interspecies associations among the 50 most abundant taxa with highly connected OTUs belonging to cryptophyceans. The network topology, with small-world characteristics, suggests a stabilizing role of biotic interactions to environmental disturbance.