Open AccessMarine microbial community responses related to wetland carbon mobilization in the coastal zone
Author(s) -
Ward Nicholas D.,
Morrison Elise S.,
Liu Yina,
RivasUbach Albert,
Osborne Todd Z.,
Ogram Andrew V.,
Bianchi Thomas S.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2378-2242
DOI - 10.1002/lol2.10101
Subject(s) - dissolved organic carbon , wetland , microbial population biology , peat , composition (language) , carbon cycle , metagenomics , environmental chemistry , ecology , chemistry , biology , ecosystem , bacteria , gene , linguistics , genetics , philosophy , biochemistry
Here, we examine how marine microbial communities respond when dissolved organic matter (DOM) is mobilized from coastal wetlands. Biological transformations of this DOM may increase in the presence of reactive substrates, such as algal‐derived DOM (ADOM) in the coastal zone—a process known as priming. We performed laboratory experiments examining transformations of DOM derived from coastal wetland peat (PDOM) with and without the presence ADOM. Associated shifts in microbial community composition and functional gene abundance were measured to evaluate mechanisms of priming effects. ADOM presence stimulated CO 2 production when compared to the seawater control, which was further enhanced in the copresence of PDOM. DOM characterization showed a substantial difference in features present at the end of the incubation when PDOM was present with and without ADOM, while metagenomic sequencing indicated shifts in microbial community composition and identified 23 unique functional genes associated with pathways for the breakdown of aromatic compounds.