Phytoplankton are key indicators of marine ecosystem health and drivers of biogeochemical processes, yet their seasonal patterns in the southern Arabian Gulf are insufficiently understood. This study investigates inter-seasonal variability in phytoplankton composition and abundance along the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), focusing on waters surrounding the region’s largest oyster beds. Surface samples were collected...

Compositional similarity generally decreases with increasing geographic distance between sites (distance decay of similarity, DDS). Two non‐exclusive mechanisms have been proposed to explain this pattern: increasing differences in environmental conditions and pure spatial effects of dispersal limitation. On regional and global scales, environmental selection is considered the major factor for microbial assemblages, whereas pur...