Prokaryotic Community Structures in the Bering and Chukchi Seas

Bacterial community composition across the Bering and Chukchi Seas during the ASGARD cruise in June 2017 is linked to water mass and bloom stage, not depth, with 11 ASV clusters.

• Why it matters: Despite intense seasonal algal blooms and rapid warming in this Pacific gateway to the Arctic, bacterial communities there remain poorly characterized, limiting understanding of how environmental change may reshape ecosystem functions.
• What they did: Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing from 181 samples on 0.2 µm filters at three depths across 62 stations, hierarchical clustering identified 11 sample clusters; distance-based redundancy analysis tested environmental drivers.
• The result: Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and fluorescence together explained 14.8% of community variation, with salinity the strongest contributor, implying bloom timing and physicochemical conditions jointly structure these communities.

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