Defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, an Estuary of National Significance.

The Indian River Lagoon, located on the east coast of Florida, USA, is an Estuary of National Significance and an important economic and ecological resource. The Indian River Lagoon faces several environmental pressures, including freshwater discharges through the St. Lucie Estuary; accumulation of...

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Main Authors: David J Bradshaw, Nicholas J Dickens, John H Trefry, Peter J McCarthy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236305
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author David J Bradshaw
Nicholas J Dickens
John H Trefry
Peter J McCarthy
author_facet David J Bradshaw
Nicholas J Dickens
John H Trefry
Peter J McCarthy
author_sort David J Bradshaw
collection DOAJ
description The Indian River Lagoon, located on the east coast of Florida, USA, is an Estuary of National Significance and an important economic and ecological resource. The Indian River Lagoon faces several environmental pressures, including freshwater discharges through the St. Lucie Estuary; accumulation of anoxic, fine-grained, organic-rich sediment; and metal contamination from agriculture and marinas. Although the Indian River Lagoon has been well-studied, little is known about its microbial communities; thus, a two-year 16S amplicon sequencing study was conducted to assess the spatiotemporal changes of the sediment bacterial and archaeal groups. In general, the Indian River Lagoon exhibited a prokaryotic community that was consistent with other estuarine studies. Statistically different communities were found between the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie Estuary due to changes in porewater salinity causing microbes that require salts for growth to be higher in the Indian River Lagoon. The St. Lucie Estuary exhibited more obvious prokaryotic seasonality, such as a higher relative abundance of Betaproteobacteriales in wet season and a higher relative abundance of Flavobacteriales in dry season samples. Distance-based linear models revealed these communities were more affected by changes in total organic matter and copper than changes in temperature. Anaerobic prokaryotes, such as Campylobacterales, were more associated with high total organic matter and copper samples while aerobic prokaryotes, such as Nitrosopumilales, were more associated with low total organic matter and copper samples. This initial study fills the knowledge gap on the Indian River Lagoon bacterial and archaeal communities and serves as important data for future studies to compare to determine possible future changes due to human impacts or environmental changes.
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spelling doaj.art-61f98940c9944ef39f210dcd8369389e2022-12-21T22:38:25ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-011510e023630510.1371/journal.pone.0236305Defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, an Estuary of National Significance.David J BradshawNicholas J DickensJohn H TrefryPeter J McCarthyThe Indian River Lagoon, located on the east coast of Florida, USA, is an Estuary of National Significance and an important economic and ecological resource. The Indian River Lagoon faces several environmental pressures, including freshwater discharges through the St. Lucie Estuary; accumulation of anoxic, fine-grained, organic-rich sediment; and metal contamination from agriculture and marinas. Although the Indian River Lagoon has been well-studied, little is known about its microbial communities; thus, a two-year 16S amplicon sequencing study was conducted to assess the spatiotemporal changes of the sediment bacterial and archaeal groups. In general, the Indian River Lagoon exhibited a prokaryotic community that was consistent with other estuarine studies. Statistically different communities were found between the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie Estuary due to changes in porewater salinity causing microbes that require salts for growth to be higher in the Indian River Lagoon. The St. Lucie Estuary exhibited more obvious prokaryotic seasonality, such as a higher relative abundance of Betaproteobacteriales in wet season and a higher relative abundance of Flavobacteriales in dry season samples. Distance-based linear models revealed these communities were more affected by changes in total organic matter and copper than changes in temperature. Anaerobic prokaryotes, such as Campylobacterales, were more associated with high total organic matter and copper samples while aerobic prokaryotes, such as Nitrosopumilales, were more associated with low total organic matter and copper samples. This initial study fills the knowledge gap on the Indian River Lagoon bacterial and archaeal communities and serves as important data for future studies to compare to determine possible future changes due to human impacts or environmental changes.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236305
spellingShingle David J Bradshaw
Nicholas J Dickens
John H Trefry
Peter J McCarthy
Defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, an Estuary of National Significance.
PLoS ONE
title Defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, an Estuary of National Significance.
title_full Defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, an Estuary of National Significance.
title_fullStr Defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, an Estuary of National Significance.
title_full_unstemmed Defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, an Estuary of National Significance.
title_short Defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, an Estuary of National Significance.
title_sort defining the sediment prokaryotic communities of the indian river lagoon fl usa an estuary of national significance
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236305
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