SEASONAL VARIATION OF PLANKTONIC FUNGAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN THE XIJIANG RIVER, CHINA.

To investigate the composition variation of planktonic fungal communities, and their relationship with water physical and chemical parameters in the Xijiang River in China, the compositions of planktonic fungal communities in the high-water and low-water period of the Xijiang River were studied in this paper by high-throughput sequencing of fungal internal transcribed spacer amplicons. Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota, Rozellomycota, and Zygomycota were detected from the planktonic fungal communities. However, most high-quality sequences (59.58 ± 0.03%) could not accurately identify fungal phyla. Alpha-diversity indexes of the fungal communities and the relative abundances of Phoma brasiliensis, Pseudozyma sp., Psathyrella sp., Haematonectria haematococca, Podoscypha sp. in the high-water period were significantly higher than those in the low-water period, while the relative abundances of Basidiobolus sp., Rhizophydium littoreum, Teratosphaeria jonkershoekensis, Malassezia globosa, Malassezia restricta, Malassezia sp., Alternaria eichhorniae, Knufia epidermidis, and Scedosporium prolificans were significantly lower. No significant correlation has been found between the fungal community distance and geographical distance along the river. Water temperature and dissolved oxygen significantly influenced the fungal community structure in the high-water period. These results provide information for us to understand the composition and influencing factors of the planktonic fungal community in rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]