Vegetation/Aboveground plants and sediment temperature co-shift the active benthic microeukaryotes in mangrove wetland

Benthic microeukaryotes play key roles in driving biogeochemical cycles and energy flows in coastal wetlands. Despite their ecological importance, little is known about why and how benthic microeukaryotes vary with vegetation types, seasons, and sediment depths. Here, we investigated diversity of benthic microeukaryotes using high throughput sequencing on 18S rRNA gene transcript in a Spartina alterniflora-invaded mangrove wetland in Fujian province, China. The taxonomic diversity of benthic microeukaryotes was significantly affected by the presence/absence of vegetation (vegetation vs. mudflat), sampling season (spring vs. summer-fall vs. winter), and depth (top surface-2 cm vs. 2-10 cm).