Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41971528›Full record

ArticleISME communications2026

Linking hydrodynamic disturbances to microeukaryote biogeography: ciliate community shifts reveal freshwater plume and seawater intrusion dynamics.

Weiwei Liu, Bowen Ye, Zijun Cheng, George B McManus, Gang Li, Linbin Zhou, Dajun Qiu, Jiaxing Liu, Zhixin Ke, Kaizhi Li and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in ISME communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Weiwei LiuState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8505-6817
Bowen YeState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
Zijun ChengState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
George B McManusDepartment of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton 06340, Connecticut, United States.
Gang LiState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
Linbin ZhouState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
Dajun QiuState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
Jiaxing LiuState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
Zhixin KeState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
Kaizhi LiState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
Yehui TanState Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6378-2156

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Estuarine ecosystems are jointly regulated by freshwater plumes and seawater intrusion, yet their impact mechanisms on community dynamics remain insufficiently understood. Here, we investigated the response of ciliate community to freshwater plume-seawater intrusion disturbance in a large subtropical estuary in China. Ciliate distribution exhibited clear turnover along environmental gradients in both community composition and abundance. In summer, community composition showed gradual horizontal and vertical shifts that corresponded with broad environmental gradients generated by strong freshwater plumes. In contrast, in winter, community variation was most pronounced between the inner and middle estuary, reflecting the upstream compression of environmental gradients driven by strong seawater intrusion. These patterns were corroborated by our determinants analyses. Variation partitioning analysis revealed that physical factors explained a substantial proportion of community variation in both seasons, and structural equation modelling further demonstrated that physical factors exerted the strongest total effects on community structure. In addition, species abundances closely followed a log-normal distribution in both seasons, which is consistent with predictions of niche-based community theory. Niche differentiation along environmental gradients shaped by freshwater plumes and seawater intrusion may contribute to this pattern. Overall, our findings reveal a clear linkage between ciliate distribution and freshwater plume-seawater intrusion dynamics, suggesting that ciliate communities can sensitively reflect the spatial-temporal variability of these physical processes.

Indexed as

ciliatefreshwater plumePearl River estuaryseawater intrusion

Identifiers

PMID41971528
PMCPMC13064646

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.