DNA metabarcoding reveals impact of local recruitment, dispersal, and hydroperiod on assembly of a zooplankton metacommunity

Understanding the environmental impact on the assembly of local communities in relation to their spatial and temporal connectivity is still a challenge in metacommunity ecology. This study aims to unravel underlying metacommunity processes and environmental factors that result in observed zooplankton communities. Unlike most metacommunity studies, we jointly examine active and dormant zooplankton communities using a DNA metabarcoding approach to overcome limitations of morphological species identification. We applied two-fragment (COI and 18S) metabarcoding to monitor communities of 24 kettle holes over a two-year period to unravel (I) spatial and temporal connectivity of the communities, (II) environmental factors influencing local communities, and (III) dominant underlying metacommunity processes in this system. We found a strong separation of zooplankton communities from kettle holes of different hydroperiods (degree of permanency) throughout the season, while the community compositi...

在集合群落生态学（metacommunity ecology）领域，厘清环境因素对当地群落构建的影响及其与群落空间、时间连通性的关联，仍是一项尚未攻克的科学难题。本研究旨在解析驱动观测到的浮游动物（zooplankton）群落形成的核心集合群落过程与环境因子。与多数集合群落研究不同，本研究采用DNA元条形码（DNA metabarcoding）技术，同时调查活跃与休眠状态的浮游动物群落，以克服传统形态物种鉴定的局限性。本研究采用两段引物（COI与18S）的元条形码技术，在两年周期内对24处壶穴湿地（kettle holes）的群落进行监测，以达成三大研究目标：（I）解析群落的空间与时间连通性；（II）探究影响当地群落的环境因子；（III）明确该系统中占主导地位的核心集合群落过程。研究发现，在整个季节周期中，不同水文周期（即湿地持水持久性）的壶穴湿地的浮游动物群落存在显著分化，而群落组成……