Deciphering Metazoan Community Dynamics Using eDNA in a Human-Impacted Gulf Ecosystem: Spatiotemporal Patterns and Environmental Drivers

作者：Shiyun Fang, Lihong Gan, Tianhao Yao, Hengsong Wu, Wenjian Chen, Yusen Li, Bo Huang, Lei Zhou · 发表于：Animals · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.3390/ani16091322 · 研究领域：Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies、Protist diversity and phylogeny、Marine Biology and Ecology Research

Coastal ecosystems, particularly semi-enclosed gulfs, are increasing anthropogenic pressures from urbanization and industrialization with profound impacts on biodiversity maintenance, energy transfer, and biogeochemical cycling. However, how metazoan communities-key components of marine food webs-respond to spatiotemporal variability and human disturbance remains insufficiently understood. This study applied eDNA metabarcoding targeting the mitochondrial COI gene to investigate metazoan communities across 68 stations in the Beibu Gulf, spanning bay, coastal, and island regions, during wet and dry seasons. In total, 878 metazoan ASVs from 13 phyla were detected. Arthropoda dominated both seasons (wet: 85%; dry: 55%), whereas Chordata increased during the dry season (wet: 0.16%; dry: 37%). At the α-diversity level, diversity peaked in the bay region during the dry season and shifted toward the coastal region during the wet season. At the β-diversity level, community composition differed significantly between seasons and spatial regions, with seasonal variation exerting a stronger influence than spatial differentiation. Co-occurrence networks revealed higher complexity during the dry season. β-diversity was overwhelmingly driven by species turnover (94.4%). The island region exhibited the highest community uniqueness, while the human-impacted bay region showed reduced distinctiveness. Redundancy analysis further identified anthropogenically influenced inorganic nitrogen, togethe...