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Patterns of diversity and phylogenetic community structure in free-living Nematodes: a metabarcoding meta-analysis
  • Lara Macheriotou,
  • Sofie Derycke,
  • Ann Vanreusel
Lara Macheriotou
Ghent University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Sofie Derycke
ILVO
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Ann Vanreusel
Ghent University
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Abstract

Identifying and understanding patterns of biological diversity is crucial at a time when even the most remote and pristine marine ecosystems are threatened by resource exploitation such as deep-seabed mining. Metabarcoding provides the means through which to perform comprehensive investigations of diversity by examining entire assemblages simultaneously. Nematodes commonly represent the most abundant infaunal metazoan group in marine soft sediments. In this meta-analysis, we compiled all publicly available metabarcoding datasets targeting the 18S rRNA v1-v2 region from sediment samples to conduct a global-scale examination of nematode Amplicon Sequence Variant (ASV) alpha diversity patterns, evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) and phylogenetic community structure at different depths and environments. We found that nematode ASV richness followed a parabolic trend, increasing from the intertidal to the shelf, reaching a maximum in the bathyal and decreasing in the abyssal zone. No depth- or environment-specific assemblages were identified as a large fraction of genera were shared. Contrastingly, the vast majority of ASVs were unique to each environment and/or depth zone; genetic diversity was thus highly localised. The abyssal samples had the highest ED values, indicating that a relatively stable yet very old environment can produce highly diversified assemblages. Overwhelmingly, nematode ASVs in all environments exhibited phylogenetic clustering, pointing to environmental filtering as the primary force defining community assembly rather than competitive interactions. This finding stresses the importance of habitat preservation for the maintenance of marine nematode diversity.
18 Jan 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
18 Jan 2023Submitted to Molecular Ecology
07 Feb 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
18 Jul 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
27 Sep 20231st Revision Received
03 Oct 2023Submission Checks Completed
03 Oct 2023Assigned to Editor
03 Oct 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
04 Oct 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
19 Oct 20232nd Revision Received
21 Oct 2023Submission Checks Completed
21 Oct 2023Assigned to Editor
21 Oct 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
26 Oct 2023Editorial Decision: Accept