Researchers find diverse communities comprise bacterial mats threatening
coral reefs

Date:
October 15, 2020
Source:
Florida State University
Summary:
A research team found that cyanobacterial mats threatening the
health of coral reefs are more diverse and complex than scientists
previously knew.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers are learning more about the brightly colored bacterial
mats threatening the ecological health of coral reefs worldwide. In new research released this month, a Florida State University team revealed
that these mats are more complex than scientists previously knew, opening
the door for many questions about how to best protect reef ecosystems
in the future.


==========================================================================
FSU Assistant Professor of Biological Science Sophie McCoy and doctoral
student Ethan Cissell published their findings in the journal Science
of the Total Environment.

"By targeting the full biological diversity of these mat communities on
reefs, and by studying the transcriptome, which gives us information
about which biochemical processes are being used by those organisms,
we're opening the door to a more complete understanding of the entire ecological role of mats," McCoy said.

Though these cyanobacterial mats have been examined in the past,
scientists focused on characterizing the cyanobacteria. Cissell and McCoy
found that cyanobacteria only made up about 47.57% of the mats. Their
analysis showed that mats also contained a type of algae called diatoms,
fungi, a single cell organism called archaea, viruses and other forms
of bacteria.

"We know from other well-characterized systems that cyanobacteria,
even in bloom-forming scenarios, associate with a diversity of other microorganisms that make significant and unique contributions to the
overall dynamics and ecophysiology of these cyanobacteria-dominated
consortia," Cissell said. "We set out to determine if similar
associations are found in proliferating cyanobacterial mats on coral
reefs." Cyanobacterial mats have posed a huge problem for coral reef
health. Coral reef bacteria have always played an important role in
these ecological communities, but the growth -- largely attributed to
local and global climate stressors - - has threatened to totally snuff
out the life of precious corals.

Previously, the bacteria covered about 1% of reefs, but that has grown
to 20 to 30% in some places.

Researchers said this greater understanding of the communities comprising
the mats leads to more questions about how the mats form and grow.

"What this means is that the mechanisms controlling mat bloom dynamics
on coral reefs are likely more complex than previously thought," Cissell
said. "These data we present provide important baselines for future mechanistic-based exploration of the processes driving the growth,
persistence, and decline of benthic cyanobacterial mats." McCoy and
Cissell conducted 29 diving expeditions in Bonaire, an island municipality
of the Netherlands off the coast of Venezuela, for the project.

They are currently conducting genetic sequencing on mat samples to get
a better understanding of daily patterns of the communities comprising
the mat. They are also examining samples taken from a dying mat to better understand compositional and functional shifts associated with mat death.

Their work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Phycological Society of America.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Florida_State_University. Original
written by Kathleen Haughney. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


==========================================================================


Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201015173116.htm

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