Microbial Community Dynamics Provide Evidence for Hypoxia during a Coral Reef Mortality Event.
Saved in:
| Title: | Microbial Community Dynamics Provide Evidence for Hypoxia during a Coral Reef Mortality Event. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Doyle, Shawn M.1 shawndoyle@tamu.edu, Self, Miabel J.1, Hayes, Joseph2, Shamberger, Kathryn E. F.1, Correa, Adrienne M. S.3, Davies, Sarah W.4, Santiago-Vázquez, Lory Z.5, Sylvan, Jason B.1 |
| Source: | Applied & Environmental Microbiology. May2022, Vol. 88 Issue 9, p1-13. 13p. |
| Subjects: | Coral reefs & islands, Corals, Microbial communities, Coral bleaching, Hypoxia (Water), Flower gardening |
| Geographic Terms: | Galveston (Tex.) |
| Abstract: | In July 2016, a severe coral reef invertebrate mortality event occurred approximately 200 km southeast of Galveston, Texas, at the East Flower Garden Bank, wherein ~82% of corals in a 0.06-km2 area died. Based on surveys of dead corals and other invertebrates shortly after this mortality event, responders hypothesized that localized hypoxia was the most likely direct cause. However, no dissolved oxygen data were available to test this hypothesis, because oxygen is not continuously monitored within the Flower Garden Banks sanctuary. Here, we quantify microbial plankton community diversity based on four cruises over 2 years at the Flower Garden Banks, including a cruise just 5 to 8 days after the mortality event was first observed. In contrast with observations collected during nonmortality conditions, microbial plankton communities in the thermocline were differentially enriched with taxa known to be active and abundant in oxygen minimum zones or that have known adaptations to oxygen limitation shortly after the mortality event (e.g., SAR324, Thioglobaceae, Nitrosopelagicus, and Thermoplasmata MGII). Unexpectedly, these enrichments were not localized to the East Bank but were instead prevalent across the entire study area, suggesting there was a widespread depletion of dissolved oxygen concentrations in the thermocline around the time of the mortality event. Hydrographic analysis revealed the southern East Bank coral reef (where the localized mortality event occurred) was uniquely within the thermocline at this time. Our results demonstrate how temporal monitoring of microbial communities can be a useful tool to address questions related to past environmental events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Applied & Environmental Microbiology is the property of American Society for Microbiology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Engineering Source |
Be the first to leave a comment!
