Evol Ecol Res 17: 721-736 (2016)     Full PDF if your library subscribes.

Bacterial diversity in the surface layer of sediments from the East China Sea

Jian-Xin Wang, Shi Tao, Kai-Cheng Yu, Ran Jiang, Ming-Hua Liu, Xue-Zhu Liu and Yingping Fan

Marine Microorganism Ecological and Application Lab, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhejiang, China

Correspondence: Xue-Zhu Liu or Yingping Fan, Marine Microorganism Ecological and Application Lab, Zhejiang Ocean University, Number 1 South Haida Road, Zhejiang 316022, China. email: xuem07@163.com or fanyingping@gmail.com


Question: What is the bacterial diversity in the surface layer of sediments from the East China Sea?

Methods: We obtained 12 sediment samples at depths of 0–3 cm, 3–5 cm, 5–8 cm, and 8–10 cm at three sediment stations in a coastal area of the East China Sea. We used 16S rRNA gene analyses to characterize the bacteria in the samples. We determined sediment total carbon (TC) and nitrogen (TN) concentrations from dried subsamples. We also measured total organic carbon (TOC) in wet subsamples. We calculated total inorganic carbon (TIC) as TC – TOC. We determined total phosphorus (TP) concentrations colorimetrically from the filtrate remaining after TOC analysis. Redundancy analysis allowed us to describe the relationship between the bacterial communities and the environmental parameters in our samples.

Results: We identified 262 clones and divided them into 15 phylotypes. Proteobacteria (33%), Chloroflexi (9%), and Planctomycetacia (9%) were dominant in the sediments. γ-Proteobacteria comprised a large proportion (15%) of all the clones found. Most bacteria were present in the 3–5 cm or 5–8 cm sediment layers. Sediment total carbon, total nitrogen, total inorganic carbon, and total phosphorus concentrations affected the γ-Proteobacteria, δ-Proteobacteria, ε-Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetacia, and Bacilli. Total phosphorus and total nitrogen had particularly large impacts on the presence of Chloroflexi and ε-Proteobacteria.

Keywords: bacterial diversity, marine sediment, nutrient concentrations, PCA, RDA, 16S rRNA.

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