Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Free-Living and Particle-Associated Vibrio Communities in the Northern Chinese Marginal Seas

The dynamics ofVibrio communities have been shown in many marine habitats that are close to land, including estuary or harbor areas. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics ofVibrio populations in the northern Chinese marginal seas, spanning a wide spatial scale. We showed that the abundances of theVibrio population in the present study were higher than those in most previously studied areas and thatVibrio species are more likely to adopt a free-living lifestyle. Moreover, our results expanded upon previous results by showing a clear shift in the dominantVibrio species from summer to winter, which was mainly attributable to the reduction in the abundance of dominant species in summer. Overall, this work contributes to the understanding of the ecology of theVibrio communities in the marginal seas.