Journal article
Resilience of blue carbon microbiomes in response to ecological and anthropogenic filtering
Nature communications, Vol.First online
22/09/2026
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Abstract
Global change is threatening the microbial consortia that sustain the services and functions of blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), but little is known about how the composition and functioning of these consortia will respond to ecological and anthropogenic stressors. Here, we construct a continental-scale microbial genome catalog from 116 representative habitats, including mangrove forests, saltmarshes, and seagrass meadows, and recover 1954 non-redundant metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). We find that BCE microbiomes are taxonomically distinct from terrestrial, marine, and marginal sea ecosystems, with ecosystem type and spatial distribution further differentiating community composition. Environmental filtering constrains taxonomic composition, yet functional composition is largely invariant to taxonomic turnover. Specialist KEGG orthologues underpin over 90% of metabolic functions conserved across all BCEs. Notably, for carbon fixation, phylogenetically divergent functional lineages provide functional redundancy that can mitigate the effects of species replacement. Collectively, our study quantifies the vulnerability of BCEs to future species loss while providing a scientific basis for confidence that blue carbon ecosystems, supported by phylogenetic redundancy, may sustain functional stability despite environmental change.
Details
- Title
- Resilience of blue carbon microbiomes in response to ecological and anthropogenic filtering
- Creators
- Leilei Xiao - Chinese Academy of SciencesJian Liu - Dezhou UniversityAndrew J. Tanentzap - Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine EnvironmentCarlos M. Duarte - King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologyChuancheng Fu - King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologyLifeng Zhou - Chinese Academy of SciencesRun Dang - Chinese Academy of SciencesMeng Zhou - Chinese Academy of SciencesMin Luo - Fuzhou UniversityPeng Zhang - Kunming University of Science and TechnologyJiafeng Yu - Dezhou UniversityYingjiang Xu - Shandong Marine Resource and Environment Research InstituteJudith Rosentreter - Southern Cross UniversityRobert G. M. Spencer - Florida State UniversityEric Lichtfouse - Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityYongming Luo - Chinese Academy of SciencesGuangxuan Han - Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Publication Details
- Nature communications, Vol.First online
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Identifiers
- 991013404521802368
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2026
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article