Temporal dynamics of freshwater planktonic parasites inferred using a DNA metabarcoding time-series

TY - JOUR

T1 - Temporal dynamics of freshwater planktonic parasites inferred using a DNA metabarcoding time-series

AU - Beng, Kingsly C.

AU - Wolinska, Justyna

AU - Funke, Elisabeth

AU - Van Den Wyngaert, Silke

AU - Gsell, Alena S.

AU - Monaghan, Michael T.

N1 - 7293, AqE; Data archiving: archived in NCBI (no NIOO data)

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Parasites are important components of biodiversity and contributors to ecosystem functioning, but are often neglected in ecological studies. Most studies examine model parasite systems or single taxa, thus our understanding of community composition is lacking. Here, the seasonal and annual dynamics of parasites was quantified using a 5-year metabarcoding time-series of freshwater plankton, collected weekly. We first identified parasites in the data set using literature searches of the taxonomic match and using sequence metadata from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) nucleotide database. In total, 441 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs, belonging to 18 phyla/clades) were classified as parasites. The four phyla/clades with highest relative read abundance and richness were Chytridiomycota, Dinoflagellata, Oomycota, and Perkinsozoa. Relative read abundance of total parasite taxa, Dinoflagellata, and Perkinsozoa significantly varied with season and was highest in summer. Parasite richness varied significantly with season and year, and was generally lowest in spring. Each season had distinct parasite communities, and the difference between summer and winter communities was most pronounced. Combining DNA metabarcoding with searches of the literature and NCBI metadata allowed us to characterize parasite diversity and community dynamics and revealed the extent to which parasites contribute to the diversity of freshwater plankton communities.

AB - Parasites are important components of biodiversity and contributors to ecosystem functioning, but are often neglected in ecological studies. Most studies examine model parasite systems or single taxa, thus our understanding of community composition is lacking. Here, the seasonal and annual dynamics of parasites was quantified using a 5-year metabarcoding time-series of freshwater plankton, collected weekly. We first identified parasites in the data set using literature searches of the taxonomic match and using sequence metadata from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) nucleotide database. In total, 441 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs, belonging to 18 phyla/clades) were classified as parasites. The four phyla/clades with highest relative read abundance and richness were Chytridiomycota, Dinoflagellata, Oomycota, and Perkinsozoa. Relative read abundance of total parasite taxa, Dinoflagellata, and Perkinsozoa significantly varied with season and was highest in summer. Parasite richness varied significantly with season and year, and was generally lowest in spring. Each season had distinct parasite communities, and the difference between summer and winter communities was most pronounced. Combining DNA metabarcoding with searches of the literature and NCBI metadata allowed us to characterize parasite diversity and community dynamics and revealed the extent to which parasites contribute to the diversity of freshwater plankton communities.

KW - 18S rRNA gene

KW - Aquatic food web

KW - Genbank

KW - long-Term monitoring

KW - Metabarcoding

KW - Möggelsee

KW - Planktonic parasites

KW - international

KW - Plan_S-Compliant-TA

U2 - 10.1017/S0031182021001293

DO - 10.1017/S0031182021001293

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85110634080

SN - 0031-1820

VL - 148

JO - Parasitology

JF - Parasitology

IS - 3

ER -