Dynamic shifts of phytoplankton community structures in the course of a dinoflagellate bloom

A dinoflagellate bloom often succeeds a diatom-dominant phytoplankton community. Information on how the phytoplankton community performs and shifts in the course of the bloom is crucial for understanding the mechanism of bloom formation, but is very limited. Here we report the temporal changes in the general community over a three-week period starting with diatom dominance and ending at a bloom of Prorocentrum donghaiense in East China Sea. High-throughput sequencing (454-pyrosequencing) of 18S rDNA (18S rRNA gene) was carried out for plankton samples (3.0-200 µm) collected at one diatom-dominant time point (T0, April 30) and three dinoflagellate bloom time points (T1, T2, T3, May 13 to 20) in 2014.