Published May 22, 2015 | Version v1
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Eukaryotic plankton diversity in the sunlit ocean

Creators

  • 1. CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France and Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France
  • 2. Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institute of Marine Science (ICM)–Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, Barcelona E08003, Spain
  • 3. Laboratory of Soil Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
  • 4. CNRS, FR2424, Roscoff Culture Collection, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Paris 06, FR 2424, Roscoff Culture Collection, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France.
  • 5. CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France and Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France and Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut de Biologie de l’ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, F-75005 France
  • 6. Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Institut de Génomique, GENOSCOPE, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, 91000 Evry, France
  • 7. CNRS FR3631, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, F-75005, Paris, France and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Paris 06, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, F-75005, Paris, France and CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France and Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France
  • 8. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium and Center for the Biology of Disease, VIB, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium and Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
  • 9. Department of Ecology, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger Street, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
  • 10. 5Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic and Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
  • 11. CNRS, UMR 7093, Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer (LOV), Observatoire Océanologique, F-06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Paris 06, UMR 7093, LOV, Observatoire Océanologique, F-06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
  • 12. Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic and Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
  • 13. Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Institut de Génomique, GENOSCOPE, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, 91000 Evry, France and 9CNRS, UMR 8030, CP5706, Evry, France and Université d’Evry, UMR 8030, CP5706, Evry, France
  • 14. Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic. 16Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic and Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 180 Dundas Street West, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada
  • 15. Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut de Biologie de l’ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, F-75005 France
  • 16. MARUM, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany and CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France and Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France
  • 17. Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy
  • 18. Ifremer, Centre de Brest, DYNECO/Pelagos CS 10070, 29280 Plouzané, France

Description

Marine plankton support global biological and geochemical processes. Surveys of their biodiversity have hitherto been geographically restricted and have not accounted for the full range of plankton size. We assessed eukaryotic diversity from 334 size-fractionated photic-zone plankton communities collected across tropical and temperate oceans during the circumglobal Tara Oceans expedition. We analyzed 18S ribosomal DNA sequences across the intermediate plankton-size spectrum from the smallest unicellular eukaryotes (protists, >0.8 micrometers) to small animals of a few millimeters. Eukaryotic ribosomal diversity saturated at ~150,000 operational taxonomic units, about one-third of which could not be assigned to known eukaryotic groups. Diversity emerged at all taxonomic levels, both within the groups comprising the ~11,200 cataloged morphospecies of eukaryotic plankton and among twice as many other deep-branching lineages of unappreciated importance in plankton ecology studies. Most eukaryotic plankton biodiversity belonged to heterotrophic protistan groups, particularly those known to be parasites or symbiotic hosts.

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