Temporal change of prokaryotic community in surface sediments of the Chukchi Sea

Abstract

Global warming may alter microbial ecosystem functions through reshaping of microbial diversities, compositions and interactions. Here, the community compositions, assembly processes and microbial interactions of prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) were compared between the warming year of 2014 and 2016 in the Chukchi Sea. Our results indicated that prokaryotic diversity was significant higher in the warmer year of 2016. Furthermore, stochastic processes always dominated archaeal assembly processes, but bacterial assembly processes were mainly shaped by deterministic processes in 2016. And more keystones were detected in bacteria than that in archaea to maintain prokaryotic community stability. Both bacterial and archaeal community variations had significant correlations with environmental factors, although many of these factors (such as TN, TP, TOC and heavy metals) had not changed significantly from 2014 to 2016. Our study provides some new insights into microbial responses to climate warming in marine sediments.