ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Aquatic Microbiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1591986
This article is part of the Research TopicPlankton Metabolisms and Interactions in Fluctuating EnvironmentsView all articles
Dynamics of microbial communities in Western Antarctic Peninsula waters shaped primarily by the biological interactions
Provisionally accepted
Mariia Pavlovska1*
Andrii Zotov2Yevheniia Prekrasna-Kviatkovska1Chandni Sidhu3
Artem Dzhulai4
Marta Dzyndra1
Evgen Dykyi1- 1National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
- 2Institute of Marine Biology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NAN Ukraine), Odessa, Ukraine
- 3Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Max Planck Society, Bremen, Bremen, Germany
- 4University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, United States
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Marine Antarctic microbial communities inhabit highly dynamic and extreme environments, characterized by deep vertical mixing, seasonal ice cover, and fluctuating light availability. The current study presents a comprehensive three-year high-throughput analysis of phytoplanktonbacterioplankton interactions in the waters of Wilhelm Archipelago, elucidating interseasonal and interannual microbial dynamics. Distinct dynamic patterns of microbial taxonomic structure and functional repertoire were observed with heterotrophic phytoplankton-associated bacteria (e.g., Polaribacter, Yoonia, Sulfitobacter, Amylibacter, and gammaproteobacterial clade SAR92) dominating in spring and summer, and oligotrophic and chemolithoautotrophic taxa (Polaromonas and Paraglaciecola) prevailing in autumn. Positive correlations were detected between Bacillariophyceae, Coccolithophyceae, and Dinophyceaea with Sulfitobacter and Yoonia, emphasizing their association with phytoplankton abundance. Indirect functional predictions using the PICRUSt2 pipeline demonstrated seasonal shifts in bacterioplankton metabolic potential. Bacterial genes encoding carbohydrate degradation and sulfatases, crucial for algal sulfated polysaccharide breakdown, were most abundant during phytoplankton development, while DMSP demethylation genes peaked in summers of 2019 and 2020, following ice retreat and mass-development of Phaeocystis antarctica (Coccolithophyceae). Additionally, elevated uric acid degradation genes suggest an ornithogenic influence from the expanding penguin colony on nitrogen cycling within the marine ecosystem. These findings highlight the pivotal role of seasonal phytoplankton dynamics in structuring bacterioplankton communities and provide novel insights into microbial-mediated biogeochemical processes in the Southern Ocean.
Keywords: bacterioplankton, Phytoplankton, Western Antarctic Peninsula, seasonal dynamics, PiCRUST
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 23 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pavlovska, Zotov, Prekrasna-Kviatkovska, Sidhu, Dzhulai, Dzyndra and Dykyi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mariia Pavlovska, National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
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