Microeukaryotic habitat specialists exhibit stronger determinism and biodiversity-nutrient cycling relationship than generalists in a subtropical river

The underlying community assembly mechanisms and biodiversity-nutrient cycling (BNC) relationships of microeukaryotic generalists and specialists remain unknown in riverine ecosystems. Here, we found that microeukaryotic habitat specialists, compared with generalists, exhibited stronger deterministic processes and contributed more to maintain co-occurrence network stability, suggesting that specialist communities were more vulnerable to environmental disturbances than generalists. Furthermore, we found specialists exhibited stronger BNC relationships, indicating specialists with narrow distribution seem to have greater capacity to support ecosystem functions. Overall, this study expands the current understanding of assembly mechanisms and BNC relationships in microeukaryotic generalists and specialists.