Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Marine Environmental Research
Volume
201
PubMed ID
39182434
Publisher
Elsevier
School
Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research / School of Science
Funders
BioPlatforms Australia / Integrated Marine Observing System / Australian Government's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy / NHP / CSIRO / Lake Macquarie Environmental Research Grant ( 2020/21/B)
Abstract
Archaea play a crucial role in the global biogeochemical cycling of elements and nutrients, helping to maintain the functional stability of estuarine systems. This study characterised the abundance and diversity of archaeal communities and identified the environmental conditions shaping these microbial communities within six temperate estuaries along approximately 500 km of the New South Wales coastline, Australia. Estuarine sediments were found to exhibit significantly higher species richness than planktonic communities, with representative sequences from the Crenarchaeota phylum characterising each environment. Ordinate analyses revealed catchment characteristics as the strongest drivers of community variability. Our results also provide evidence supporting distance-decay patterns of archaeal biogeography across intermediate scales within and between temperate estuaries, contributing to a growing body of evidence revealing the extent spatial scales play in shaping microbial communities. This study expands our understanding of microbial diversity in temperate estuaries, with a specific focus on archaeal community structure and their role in maintaining ecosystem stability.
DOI
10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106703
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Cocksedge, E., Stat, M., Suzzi, A. L., Gaston, T. F., & Huggett, M. J. (2024). Spatial and environmental drivers of temperate estuarine archaeal communities. Marine Environmental Research, 201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106703