Abstract
Benthic diatoms are the main primary producers and are sensitive to environmental changes in the estuarine ecosystem. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate the impact of environmental stress on the benthic diatom community in the estuarine ecosystem. In this study, the sediment samples from the five sampling sites were collected from the Yellow River Delta in the four seasons, and the abundance of benthic diatoms were determined using the high-throughput sequencing of 18S rRNA genes. The results showed that the motile guild taxa, such as Navicula, Nitzschia, and Amphora, was dominated in the benthic diatom the community throughout the sampling period. The structure of the benthic diatom community was significantly different among seasons (ANOSIM P < 0.01), especially between summer and winter. Redundancy analysis showed that water temperature and the concentrations of silicate, nitrate, ammonium, and pH value are the main driving factors shaping the seasonal assembly of the benthic diatom community. The results will improve knowledge about the benthic diatom community in the estuarine ecosystem and provide a theoretical foundation for estuary environmental management.
Highlights
The estuary is the key transition zone between rivers and seas which is subject to strong continentaloceanic interactions (Sun et al, 2020; Deng et al, 2021)
This study used 18S rRNA gene-based highthroughput sequencing technology to analyze the structure of the benthic diatom community in the Yellow River Delta for the first time
The results show that the diversity of the benthic diatom community is higher significantly in spring and winter than in summer and fall
Summary
The estuary is the key transition zone between rivers and seas which is subject to strong continentaloceanic interactions (Sun et al, 2020; Deng et al, 2021). Estuarine zones are a complex and important ecosystem with a high biodiversity value, providing diversified ecological services, such as ecological habitat for many organisms, and maintaining ecological security in the coastal areas (Barbier et al, 2011; Frankenbach et al, 2020; Chi et al, 2021). The Seasonal Benthic Diatom Community improve the understanding of the estuary ecosystem and provide for theoretical support about the ecological protection and restoration of the coastal ecosystem. The benthic diatom is an important component of the estuarine ecosystem which plays indispensable roles in driving the biological pump, shaping the carbon cycle of the coastal environments, and providing energy to herbivores (Amin et al, 2012; Marques da Silva et al, 2017; Wang et al, 2019; Virta et al, 2020). The diatom responds quickly to environmental changes as a result of its short life cycle and has been widely regarded as the good bio-indicator tool (Potapova and Charles, 2007; Clark et al, 2020)
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