Abstract:
To reveal the distribution of benthic eukaryote communities at three sites in intertidal zone of mangrove in Beilun Estuary, China, we investigated the community structure of benthic eukaryotes by Illumina high throughput DNA pyrosequencing of the 18S rRNA gene. The results showed that benthic eukaryote communities in mangrove sediments of Beilun Estuary were highly diverse. Shannonwiener index of the different intertidal zones ranged from 6.08 to 6.73. The PCA result demonstrated that the species compositions were significantly different among the intertidal zone communities. The relative abundances of Platyhelminthes, Arthropoda and Mollusca were higher in the upper zone mangrove. However, some groups such as Ciliophora, Annelida and Rotifera were more abundant in the middle zone mangrove, whereas Diatomea was found more in the lower part mangrove. Of the total OTUs observed for benthic eukaryotes, the dominant OTUs were similar to 18S rRNA gene sequences reported from
Acartia pacifica,
Thalassiosira sp.,
Prorodon teres and
Capitella sp. The results showed that the method of DNA high-throughput sequencing can comprehensively estimate the benthic eukaryote communities in mangrove sediments and shed insights into the function of benthic eukaryote communities of the mangrove ecosystem.