Liu Ben-Wen, Li Shu-Yin, Zhu Huan, Liu Guo-Xiang
Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Monitoring and Scientific Research Center, Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision and Administration Bureau, Ministry of Ecological Environment, Wuhan 430072, China.
Plant Divers. 2022 Sep 5;45(1):45-53. doi: 10.1016/j.pld.2022.08.006. eCollection 2023 Jan.
Phyllosphere algae are common in tropical rainforests, forming visible biofilms or spots on plant leaf surfaces. However, knowledge of phyllosphere algal diversity and the environmental factors that drive that diversity is limited. The aim of this study is to identify the environmental factors that drive phyllosphere algal community composition and diversity in rainforests. For this purpose, we used single molecule real-time sequencing of full-length 18S rDNA to characterize the composition of phyllosphere microalgal communities growing on four host tree species (, , , and ) common to three types of forest over four months at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan Province, China. Environmental 18S rDNA sequences revealed that the green algae orders Watanabeales and Trentepohliales were dominant in almost all algal communities and that phyllosphere algal species richness and biomass were lower in planted forest than in primeval and reserve rainforest. In addition, algal community composition differed significantly between planted forest and primeval rainforest. We also found that algal communities were affected by soluble reactive phosphorous, total nitrogen, and ammonium contents. Our findings indicate that algal community structure is significantly related to forest type and host tree species. Furthermore, this study is the first to identify environmental factors that affect phyllosphere algal communities, significantly contributing to future taxonomic research, especially for the green algae orders Watanabeales and Trentepohliales. This research also serves as an important reference for molecular diversity analysis of algae in other specific habitats, such as epiphytic algae and soil algae.
叶际藻类在热带雨林中很常见，在植物叶片表面形成可见的生物膜或斑点。然而，关于叶际藻类多样性以及驱动这种多样性的环境因素的了解有限。本研究的目的是确定驱动热带雨林中叶际藻类群落组成和多样性的环境因素。为此，我们使用全长18S rDNA的单分子实时测序来表征在中国云南省西双版纳热带植物园中，四种寄主树种（、、、和）上生长的叶际微藻群落的组成，这四种寄主树种是三种森林类型共有的，研究持续了四个月。环境18S rDNA序列显示，绿藻目Watanabeales和Trentepohliales在几乎所有藻类群落中占主导地位，并且人工林中的叶际藻类物种丰富度和生物量低于原始雨林和自然保护区雨林。此外，人工林和原始雨林之间的藻类群落组成存在显著差异。我们还发现藻类群落受可溶性活性磷、总氮和铵含量的影响。我们的研究结果表明，藻类群落结构与森林类型和寄主树种显著相关。此外，本研究首次确定了影响叶际藻类群落的环境因素，对未来的分类学研究有显著贡献，特别是对于绿藻目Watanabeales和Trentepohliales。这项研究也为其他特定生境中藻类的分子多样性分析提供了重要参考，如附生藻类和土壤藻类。
