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Walsh EA, Smith DC, Sogin ML, D’Hondt S
Bacterial and archaeal biogeography of the deep chlorophyll maximum in the South Pacific Gyre
The bacterial and archaeal communities of the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) in the South Pacific Gyre (SPG) are strikingly homogeneous despite vast distances between sites and pronounced variation in DCM depth: the Bray-Curtis similarity at the DCM was 70% for Bacteria and 80% for Archaea. Comparison of bacterial assemblages from the SPG, the North Pacific Gyre and the relatively nutrient- and chlorophyll-rich equatorial Pacific (EQP) shows that DCM assemblages of these 3 regions are statistically distinct from each other. This distinctness is influenced by environmental conditions, as the communities of the 2 gyres resemble each other more closely than either resembles the EQP community (which lives geographically between them). In short, DCM microbial communities are statistically distinct in different oceanic regions, but consistent within regions for thousands of kilometers.
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