REGULATION OF MARINE MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES BY SEAGRASS MEADOWS
Australian Institute of Marine Science, Australia
Research collaborators: Dr. Joleah B. Lamb, Prof. Drew Harvell (Cornell University), Prof. David G. Bourne (Australian Institute of Marine Science & James Cook Univeristy) and Prof. Jamaluddin Jompa (Hasanuddin University)
Research collaborators: Dr. Joleah B. Lamb, Prof. Drew Harvell (Cornell University), Prof. David G. Bourne (Australian Institute of Marine Science & James Cook Univeristy) and Prof. Jamaluddin Jompa (Hasanuddin University)
Cover of the 17 February 2017 issue of Science featuring this project, describing a new ecosystem service provided by seagrass meadows
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Seagrass meadows are the most widespread coastal ecosystem on the planet and provide habitat for many marine organisms, including those of economic importance. Being very efficient at sequestering carbon dioxide, seagrass meadows are also critical buffers against climate change. This project identified a novel ecosystem service provided by seagrass meadows, showing that they modulate marine microbial communities and act as natural filters of microbiological contamination, thereby highlighting their importance to the health of marine ecosystems and humans.
This study was conducted in Indonesia around islands lacking basic sanitation and wastewater treatment facilities. Levels of the standard indicator for enteric wastewater pollution Enterococcus (selective culture-based assay) as well as other potential bacterial pathogens (16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing combined with qPCR) were reduced by at least 50% when seagrass meadows were present. Moreover, field surveys showed two-fold reductions in coral disease levels on reefs adjacent to seagrass beds compared to reefs without any seagrass meadows nearby. Although the exact mechanism of microbial filtration by seagrass ecosystems is still unknown, this is currently under investigation by our teams. |