Microbial community assembly and co-occurrence relationship in the sediments of the river-dominated estuary and the adjacent shelf

Microbial communities are characterized by more connections in the estuary transect compared to those in the adjacent shelf transects. The microbial community assembly tend to be more venerable to stochastic processes than deterministic processes in the estuary and adjacent shelf, with a higher ratio of stochastic process in the estuary transect. Dispersal limited and undominated processes were more active in the estuary transect. The different patterns of microbial community assembly between the estuary and the adjacent shelf were believed to be mainly regulated by hydrodynamic disturbance. Our study enhances the understanding of microbial community assembly in the estuary and adjacent shelf.