Environmental data from: Feeding strategy and dietary preference shape the microbiome of epipelagic copepods in a warm nutrient-impoverished ecosystem

Copepods provide a rich organic microenvironment allowing the settlement and proliferation of microorganisms, forming dynamic microbial hotspots in the oceans. Such symbiotic associations in the plankton were previously hypothesized to be especially developed in warm oligotrophic seas, as they may serve as alternative sources of nutrients in biologically-poor waters. Aiming to better understand how copepod microbiomes are shaped in an oligotrophic sea, we characterized microbiota associated with three dominant coastal epipelagic copepod species in the ultra-oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea using amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Our results show that copepod-associated microbial communities were host-specific rather than determined by seasonal environmental changes. In the filter-feeding copepod with a tendency to herbivory, Temora stylifera, microbial diversity was low and relatively stable throughout the year. In contrast, omnivorous copepods, the ambush-feeding Oithona ...

桡足类（Copepods）可提供丰富的有机微环境，支持微生物的定殖与增殖，在海洋中形成动态的微生物热点。此前有假说提出，浮游生物中的这类共生关系在暖水贫营养海域尤为发达，因为在生物量匮乏的水域中，它们可作为营养物质的替代来源。为深入理解贫营养海域中桡足类微生物组的塑造机制，本研究针对超贫营养东地中海海域的3种优势沿岸上层桡足类物种，采用16S rRNA基因扩增子测序技术对其携带的微生物群进行了表征分析。研究结果显示，桡足类关联的微生物群落具有宿主特异性，而非由季节性环境变化决定。在倾向植食性的滤食性桡足类——精致哲水蚤（Temora stylifera）体内，微生物多样性全年处于较低水平且相对稳定。与此相反，伏击摄食的杂食性桡足类纺锤水蚤（Oithona）……