Deep-sea shipwrecks represent island-like ecosystems for marine microbiomes.

Autor: Hamdan LJ; University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, MS, USA. leila.hamdan@usm.edu., Hampel JJ; University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, MS, USA., Moseley RD; University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, MS, USA., Mugge RL; University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, MS, USA., Ray A; University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, MS, USA., Salerno JL; George Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA., Damour M; Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The ISME journal [ISME J] 2021 Oct; Vol. 15 (10), pp. 2883-2891. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Apr 22.
DOI: 10.1038/s41396-021-00978-y
Abstrakt: Biogeography of macro- and micro-organisms in the deep sea is, in part, shaped by naturally occurring heterogeneous habitat features of geological and biological origin such as seeps, vents, seamounts, whale and wood-falls. Artificial features including shipwrecks and energy infrastructure shape the biogeographic patterns of macro-organisms; how they influence microorganisms is unclear. Shipwrecks may function as islands of biodiversity for microbiomes, creating a patchwork of habitats with influence radiating out into the seabed. Here we show microbiome richness and diversity increase as a function of proximity to the historic deep-sea shipwreck Anona in the Gulf of Mexico. Diversity and richness extinction plots provide evidence of an island effect on microbiomes. A halo of core taxa on the seabed was observed up to 200 m away from the wreck indicative of the transition zone from shipwreck habitat to the surrounding environment. Transition zones around natural habitat features are often small in area compared to what was observed at Anona indicating shipwrecks may exert a large sphere of influence on seabed microbiomes. Historic shipwrecks are abundant, isolated habitats with global distribution, providing a means to explore contemporary processes shaping biogeography on the seafloor. This work is a case study for how built environments impact microbial biodiversity and provides new information on how arrival of material to the seafloor shapes benthic microbiomes.
(© 2021. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE