Sedimentary bacterial communities in subtropical Beibu Gulf: Assembly process and functional profile

[Display omitted] •Proteobacteria was determined to be the dominant phylum in the Beibu Gulf.•Predicted bacterial functional involved in carbon cycle were most abundant.•Deterministic processes were dominant to the bacteria community assembly.•TC, TP, and TS had a significant influence on bacterial community structure. Bacterial communities in marine sediments of the subtropical Beibu Gulf differ significantly from those of other regions. Thus, it is of great importance to study the marine sediment characteristics comprising bacterial composition, diversity, assembly processes, and functional profile. However, such sediments characteristics in subtropical Beibu Gulf remain unclear. Therefore, we studied the diversity, assembly processes, and functional profiles of the bacterial communities in sediment samples collected from 21 sites in the Beibu Gulf. Upon analysis, Proteobacteria was determined to be the dominant phylum using 16S rRNA sequencing. Predominantly deterministic processes shaped the formation of bacterial communities. The predicted bacterial functional groups involved in the carbon cycle (59.06%) were most abundant in the FAPROTAX database, followed by nitrogen (9.25%) and sulfur (1.01%). Furthermore, the composition of the bacterial community was significantly influenced by TC, TP, and TS (p