Diversity of in situ diet and host-associated protist of copepods in Chinese marginal seas

Copepods are the most numerous secondary producers in the marine ecosystem, harboring highly diverse symbionts which play essential roles in host health, productivity, and population dynamics. In this project, we modified a copepod-excluding eukaryote-inclusive PCR protocol and used high-throughput sequencing of 18S rRNA gene to study the diversity of in situ diet and protistan symbionts of copepods in Chinese marginal seas.