Do microbial planktonic communities reflect the ecological changes of Glorieuses coral reefs (Iles Eparses, Western Indian Ocean)?

Ecological baselines for the structure and functioning of ecosystems in the absence of human activity can provide essential information on their health status. The Glorieuses islands are located in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) and can be considered as “pristine” ecosystems that have not been subjected to anthropogenic pressure. Their nutrient context and the microbial assemblages were assessed by determining the abundance of heterotrophic prokaryotes (archaea and bacteria), picocyanobacteria, picoeukaryotes, microphytoplankton and protozooplankton communities in five stations, during two contrasted periods (November 2015 and May 2016). Chlorophyll-a concentrations were always under 1 μg/L and associated to very low levels in orthophosphates, nitrate and dissolved organic carbon, revealing an ultra-oligotrophic status for the Glorieuses waters. Picocyanobacteria confirmed the ultra-oligotrophic status with a predominance of Synechococcus. Zeaxanthin associated with the presence of picocyanobacteria represented the major pigment in both surveys. Three indices of diversity (species richness, Shannon and Pielou indexes) from microscopy observations highlighted the difference of diversity in microphytoplankton between the surveys. A focus on a 16S metabarcoding approach showed a high dominance of picocyanobacteria, Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria, regardless of station or period. Multivariate analyses (co-inertia analyses) revealed a strong variability of ecological conditions between the two periods, with (i) high nutrient concentrations and heterotrophic nanoflagellate abundance in November 2015, and (ii) high heterotrophic prokaryote and picoeukaryote abundance in May 2016. The impact of a category 5 tropical cyclone (Fantala) on the regional zone in April 2016 is also advanced to explain these contrasted situations. Relative importance of top-down factors between bacterial and heterotrophic nanoflagellates was observed in November 2015 with an active microbial food web. All the results indicate that three microbial indexes potentially can be considered to assess the ecological change in Glorieuses marine waters.