The protist community of the oligotrophic waters of the Gulf of Mexico is distinctly shaped by depth-specific physicochemical conditions during the warm season.

Abstract

Marine protists are key components of biogeochemical cycles and microbial food webs, which respond quickly to environmental factors. In the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), the Loop Current intensifies in summer and supplies the gulf with warm and oligotrophic waters. However, the cyclonic eddies within the GoM create favorable conditions for biological productivity by bringing nutrient-rich water to the subsurface layer. In this study, we investigated the response of the protist community to the regional physicochemical conditions, its spatial and temporal variability, the influence of mesoscale structures, and its ecological roles in the mixed layer (ML) and deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM). This is the first study to conduct a V9-18S rRNA gene survey for this community in the Mexican Exclusive Economic Zone of the GoM. The regional distribution, temporal changes, and mesoscale structures significantly affected the structure of the protist community in the ML. In contrast, only mesoscale structures significantly affected the protist community in the DCM. Different protist assemblages were also present between the ML and DCM, with the Alveolata representing ∼60% of the community in both layers, followed by haptophytes and MAST (Marine Stramenopiles) in the ML; pelagophytes and radiolarians were the more prevalent taxa in the DCM. Finally, co-occurrence analyses revealed that competition, parasitism, and predation were the potential interactions shaping these communities at both depths.