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Ballast water treatment plus exchange microbial study
Citation:
Brown, S. AND J. Darling. Ballast water treatment plus exchange microbial study. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2025. https://doi.org/10.23719/1532166
Impact/Purpose:
Under the 2018 Vessel General Discharge Act EPA is mandated to better understand the risks of non-native species introduction associated with ballast water discharge. This dataset was generated to meet that statutory mandate under the auspices of the interagency Ballast Water Research & Development Plan. Analysis of this data will be critical for 1) determining the impact of ballast water treatment and ballast water exchange, two common management actions, on the microbial communities present in ballast tanks, including pathogenic indicators; and 2) assessing the value of DNA-based approaches for quantifying and characterizing microbial communities, including indicators.
Description:
This dataset is from an experimental voyage in which multiple ballast water tanks were exposed to both treatment and exchange and samples were taken to assess microbial communities at all stages. Analysis of 16S metabarcoding data was used to assess changes to microbial communities associated with ballast water management actions
