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DISTURBANCE ALTERS THE MANGROVE-ASSOCIATED SEDIMENT MICROBIOME IN AN URBAN TROPICAL ESTUARY
Citation:
Krause, J., E. Watson, A. Oczkowski, AND J. SantoDomingo. DISTURBANCE ALTERS THE MANGROVE-ASSOCIATED SEDIMENT MICROBIOME IN AN URBAN TROPICAL ESTUARY. Ocean Sciences Meeting, NA, Virtual, February 24 - March 04, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
This poster will present preliminary results of the microbial diversity of surface subtidal sediments in the San Juan Bay Estuary.
Description:
Although the global population inhabiting low-elevation, coastal areas is projected to exceed one billion by 2060, with most of the increase expected in subtropical and tropical urban centers, little is known about biogeochemical processes and elemental cycling in tropical estuaries affected by urbanization. By sequencing the 16S rRNA gene in mangrove-associated sediments of the urban, tropical San Juan Bay Estuary in Puerto Rico, we found indications for shifts in the microbial community at sites with a history of disturbance from human settlement. Through computational prediction of metagenomes and associated functional gene abundances from metabarcoding data, we identify potential implications for sedimentary elemental cycling, with particular focus on the processes of sulfate reduction, nitrogen fixation, and methanogenesis. Taking into account bulk sediment N and S stable isotopic data, chamber-based CO2 and CH4 flux measurements, and sediment salinity, we evaluate our findings of differentially abundant functional genes and microbial taxa and put forward hypotheses that may be tested by future metagenomic or transcriptomic investigations of the SJBE microbiome.
