Zooplankton,a crucial component of urban wetland,are one of the effective bioindicators for monitoring the feeding stocks of organisms at higher trophic levels and assessing the ecological quality of ecosystems.Howeve...Zooplankton,a crucial component of urban wetland,are one of the effective bioindicators for monitoring the feeding stocks of organisms at higher trophic levels and assessing the ecological quality of ecosystems.However,information about the characteristics of epiphytic zooplankton community structure resulted from traditional methods is limited and hindered by the large amount of detritus and sludge attached to the macrophytes.We investigated the epiphytic zooplankton communities associated with macrophytes(Vallisneria,Nymphaea,and Thalia dealbata)in a subtropical wetland using as DNA markers of the 18 S rRNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I(COI)gene.A total of 241 OTUs of zooplankton were obtained from COI amplicons,including 194 OTUs of Rotifera,22 of Cladocera,and 25 of Copepoda,while only 62 OTUs of zooplankton were obtained from 18 S rDNA amplicons including 34 OTUs of Rotifera and 28 of Copepoda.The zooplankton communities associated with the three macrophytes were similar,but they differed significantly from those in the open waters.However,there were no significant temporal differences among the zooplankton communities.Epiphytic zooplankton communities were dominated by littoral zooplankton such as Testudinella,Lecane,and Philodina.Microzooplankton,especially littoral species,utilize macrophytes as food sources and as refuges against predation.This further led to an increase inαandβdiversity of zooplankton communities in urban wetlands.Our result suggests that the joint use of multiple molecular markers could improve the taxonomic resolution and generate a comprehensive biodiversity profile of zooplankton.展开更多
基金Supported by the Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Project(No.202201010592)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes(No.PM-zx 703-202305-165)。
文摘Zooplankton,a crucial component of urban wetland,are one of the effective bioindicators for monitoring the feeding stocks of organisms at higher trophic levels and assessing the ecological quality of ecosystems.However,information about the characteristics of epiphytic zooplankton community structure resulted from traditional methods is limited and hindered by the large amount of detritus and sludge attached to the macrophytes.We investigated the epiphytic zooplankton communities associated with macrophytes(Vallisneria,Nymphaea,and Thalia dealbata)in a subtropical wetland using as DNA markers of the 18 S rRNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I(COI)gene.A total of 241 OTUs of zooplankton were obtained from COI amplicons,including 194 OTUs of Rotifera,22 of Cladocera,and 25 of Copepoda,while only 62 OTUs of zooplankton were obtained from 18 S rDNA amplicons including 34 OTUs of Rotifera and 28 of Copepoda.The zooplankton communities associated with the three macrophytes were similar,but they differed significantly from those in the open waters.However,there were no significant temporal differences among the zooplankton communities.Epiphytic zooplankton communities were dominated by littoral zooplankton such as Testudinella,Lecane,and Philodina.Microzooplankton,especially littoral species,utilize macrophytes as food sources and as refuges against predation.This further led to an increase inαandβdiversity of zooplankton communities in urban wetlands.Our result suggests that the joint use of multiple molecular markers could improve the taxonomic resolution and generate a comprehensive biodiversity profile of zooplankton.