Annual changes in the microeukaryotic community in intertidal sediments, Qingdao, China

Annual changes in the microeukaryotic community in intertidal sediments, Qingdao, China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Annual changes in the microeukaryotic community in intertidal sediments, Qingdao, China Yan Ji, Chuan Zhai, Hongbing Shao, Andrew McMinn, Min Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6690035/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Microeukaryotic communities in intertidal sediments play an important role in maintaining ecosystem health and resilience, as they are involved in ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, organic matter breakdown and the support of diverse marine food webs. However, the seasonal variations in these communities and the differences between communities in muddy and sandy sediments are poorly understood. To address these gaps, surface sediments from both muddy and sandy sediments were collected monthly over a year (4 seasons, 10 months). Microeukaryotic community structure was analyzed using 18S rRNA sequencing, focusing on alpha-diversity, OTU composition, community composition, network structure, and trophic functional group structure. Results show that there were significant monthly changes in community composition, which were closely linked to changes in environmental factors such as temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO) and salinity. Species co-occurrence network analysis showed that interaction numbers and network density peaked in summer and declined in autumn and winter. This study also highlights the different characteristics of eukaryotic communities of muddy versus sandy sediments. Mantel tests show that temperature, DO and chlorophyll a (chl a) have a significant influence on eukaryotic communities in muddy environments, while DO, chl a and particulate organic carbon (POC) are important in sandy environments. This suggests that eukaryotic communities in muddy sediments are susceptible to ocean warming and hypoxia, while those in sandy sediments are more vulnerable to hypoxia and pollution. It was also found that autotrophs, heterotrophs, and mixotrophs react differently to seasonal climate shifts and different sediment types, with notable peaks in abundance for autotrophs in June, heterotrophs in December, and mixotrophs from September to November. These results will provide an important baseline on the microeukaryotic communities in intertidal sediments, essential for forecasting changes in community structure and ecosystem functions resulting from environmental changes. Marine and Freshwater Ecology Marine and Freshwater Ecology Microeukaryotic communities Intertidal sediments(Muddy and Sandy)༛OTU composition Seasonal variation Trophic functional groups༛Qingdao coastal Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6690035","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":458189419,"identity":"f820310c-6ee0-4469-8ed3-073a7aab03d8","order_by":0,"name":"Yan Ji","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5569-3590","institution":"Ocean University of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yan","middleName":"","lastName":"Ji","suffix":""},{"id":458189420,"identity":"935b5c76-bfd5-4939-b3eb-fb3de0a16a75","order_by":1,"name":"Chuan Zhai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of 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