Data from: Macroecological patterns of archaeal ammonia oxidizers in the Atlantic Ocean

Macroecological patterns are found in animals and plants, but also in
micro-organisms. Macroecological and biogeographic distribution patterns
in marine Archaea, however, have not been studied yet. Ammonia-oxidizing
Archaea (AOA) show a bipolar distribution (i.e. similar communities in the
northernmost and the southernmost locations, separated by distinct
communities in the tropical and gyral regions) throughout the Atlantic,
detectable from epipelagic to upper bathypelagic layers (<2000 m
depth). This tentatively suggests an influence of the epipelagic
conditions of organic matter production on bathypelagic AOA communities.
The AOA communities below 2000 m depth showed a less pronounced
biogeographic distribution pattern than the upper 2000 m water column.
Overall, AOA in the surface and deep Atlantic waters exhibit
distance–decay relationships and follow the Rapoport rule in a similar way
as bacterial communities and macroorganisms. This indicates a major role
of environmental conditions in shaping the community composition and
assembly (species sorting) and no, or only weak limits for dispersal in
the oceanic thaumarchaeal communities. However, there is indication of a
different strength of these relationships between AOA and Bacteria, linked
to the intrinsic differences between these two domains.