Biodiversity and distribution of zoobenthos in the ecological water replenishment area of the Yellow River estuary coastal wetland revealed by eDNA metabarcoding

RESEARCH ARTICLE Biodiversity and distribution of zoobenthos in the ecological water replenishment area of the Yellow River estuary coastal wetland revealed by eDNA metabarcoding Gang Xie1,2, Jie Lan3,4, Jinhui Liang1,2, Qidong Wang3,4, Xiaoqiang Cao3,4, Yanlong Wang3,4, Chongyang RenID3,4, Huaqing LiuID3,4*, Jian Zhang3,4,5* 1 State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Land and Sea Ecological Governance and Systematic Regulation, Jinan, China, 2 Shandong Academy for Environmental Planning, Jinan, China, 3 College of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China, 4 Institute of Yellow River Delta Earth Surface Processes and Ecological Integrity, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China, 5 School of Geographical Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China * liuhuaqing@sdust.edu.cn (HL); zhangjian00@sdu.edu.cn (JZ) Abstract The coastal wetland of the Yellow River Estuary, one of China’s largest wetlands, is essen- tial for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Ecological water replenishment, a typical wetland restoration measure in the Yellow River Delta, has significantly impacted the habitat of zoobenthos, which are critical indicators of ecosystem health and water quality. However, the community characteristics of zoobenthos in this coastal wetland are poorly understood. This study utilized eDNA metabarcoding to assess the diversity and community structure of zoobenthos in the ecological water replenishment area of Yellow River Estuary

Coastal Wetland. Zoobenthos from 174 families were identified, with 307 species recog- nized at the generic level, significantly more than those identified through traditional mor- pho-taxonomic approaches. Salinity emerged as a crucial factor in shaping these ecosystems. Contrary to expectations, in this study, brackish water exhibited the lowest species richness compared to freshwater and seawater, which may be attributed to local environmental stressors and fluctuating salinity conditions in the Yellow River Estuary. Envi- ronmental factors such as salinity, organic matter, and nutrient elements significantly influ- ence the composition and distribution of zoobenthos. Specifically, cations, particularly Mg2⁺ and Ca2⁺, have a more substantial impact on zoobenthos than anions. Our results provide crucial information on zoobenthic biodiversity within ecological water replenishment areas, offering insights into the ecological dynamics and environmental factors shaping zoo- benthos communities under ecological management. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315346 December 18, 2024 1 / 19 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Xie G, Lan J, Liang J, Wang Q, Cao X, Wang Y, et al. (2024) Biodiversity and distribution of zoobenthos in the ecological water replenishment area of the Yellow River estuary coastal wetland revealed by eDNA metabarcoding. PLoS ONE 19(12): e0315346. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0315346 Editor: Ram Kumar, Central University of South Bihar, INDIA Received: July 27, 2024

Accepted: November 24, 2024 Published: December 18, 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Xie et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: The raw sequencing reads generated for this study are available in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under Bioproject PRJNA1134659, with the accession numbers SRR30908258 to SRR30908273. The data can be accessed at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA1134659. Funding: This study was supported by the State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Land and Sea Ecological Governance and Systematic