Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Ecology Group, Kaiserslautern, Germany; Department of Animal Sciences and Marine Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., Evin, Tehran, Iran.
Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Ecology Group, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Nov;184:114143. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114143. Epub 2022 Sep 28.
Coral reef ecosystems in the Persian Gulf are frequently exposed to crude oil spills. We investigated benthic bacterial and eukaryote community structures at such coral reef sites subjected to different degrees of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pollution using environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. Both bacterial and eukaryote communities responded with pronounced shifts to crude oil pollution and distinguished control sites, moderately and heavily impacted sites with significant confidentiality. The observed community patterns were predominantly driven by Alphaproteobacteria and metazoans. Among these, we identified individual genera that were previously linked to oil spill stress, but also taxa, for which a link to hydrocarbon still remains to be established. Considering the lack of an early-warning system for the environmental status of coral reef ecosystems exposed to frequent crude-oil spills, our results encourage further research towards the development of an eDNA-based biomonitoring tool that exploits benthic bacterial and eukaryote communities as bioindicators.
波斯湾的珊瑚礁生态系统经常受到原油泄漏的影响。我们使用环境 DNA（eDNA）宏条形码技术研究了这些珊瑚礁地点的底栖细菌和真核生物群落结构，这些地点受到不同程度的多环芳烃（PAH）污染。细菌和真核生物群落对原油污染有明显的反应，并与对照点、中度和重度污染点区分开来，具有显著的机密性。观察到的群落模式主要由α变形菌门和后生动物驱动。在这些群落中，我们鉴定出了以前与石油泄漏压力有关的个别属，但也有一些类群，它们与碳氢化合物的联系仍有待建立。考虑到缺乏针对经常受到原油泄漏影响的珊瑚礁生态系统环境状况的预警系统，我们的研究结果鼓励进一步研究开发基于 eDNA 的生物监测工具，利用底栖细菌和真核生物群落作为生物指标。
