Seagrass biofilm communities at a naturally CO2-rich vent at Papua New Guinea ...

• Main Authors: Hassenrück, Christiane, Hofmann, Laurie C, Bischof, Kai, Ramette, Alban
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2014
• Subjects: Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification BIOACID; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.836359; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.836359

Seagrass meadows are a crucial component of tropical marine reef ecosystems. The seagrass plants are colonized by a multitude of epiphytic organisms that contribute to determining the ecological role of seagrasses. To better understand how environmental changes like ocean acidification might affect epiphytic assemblages, the microbial community composition of the epiphytic biofilm of Enhalus acroides was investigated at a natural CO2 vent in Papua New Guinea using molecular fingerprinting and next generation sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes. Both bacterial and eukaryotic epiphytes formed distinct communities at the CO2-impacted site compared to the control site. This site-related CO2 effect was also visible in the succession pattern of microbial epiphytes. We further found an increased abundance of bacterial types associated with coral diseases at the CO2-impacted site (Fusobacteria, Thalassomonas) whereas eukaryotes such as certain crustose coralline algae commonly related to healthy reefs were less ... : The data files contain information about environmental parameters (CO2 impact, leaf age, epiphyte cover, carbon and nitrogen content of seagrass leaves) and fingerprinting (ARISA: Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis) data (PCR fragment lengths, mapping file to match PCR fragments and sample names). ...