Cumulative impact of long-term intensive mariculture on total and active bacterial communities in the core sediments of the Ailian Bay, North China

Abstract

<p class="first" id="d588593e150">The exponential growth of off-shore mariculture worldwide over the last 20 years has had significant impact on coastal sediment biogeochemistry. However, there are no long-term records of the cumulative impacts of mariculture on the benthic bacterial community. Here, total (DNA) and active (RNA) bacterial community compositions were characterized using MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA gene in four core sediments of the Ailian Bay, one of the typical intensive mariculture areas in China with more than fifty-year history of kelp and scallop cultivation. The γ-Proteobacteria, δ-Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Acitinobacteria were more abundant in the total bacterial communities, while β-Proteobacteria, Anaerolineae, Clostridia, Spirochaetes and Cyanobacteria were enriched in the active bacterial communities. Significant differences were observed between total and active benthic bacterial communities. The influences of different mariculture modes on the total bacterial communities were more significant than those on the active bacterial communities. Only limited groups of the total bacterial communities were significant influenced by the cumulative effects of the long-term mariculture. The bacterial genera with the function in the sulfide cycling and organic consumption were enriched in the total bacterial population of the integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) areas. The variations of both total and active bacterial communities were significantly influenced by grain sizes, total organic carbon and nutrients. Both total and active bacterial communities exhibited a slightly stronger response to environmental factors than to spatial (distance) factors. The effects of mutualism might dominate the total and active bacterial networks in the Ailian Bay. The present study demonstrated that the cumulative influences of the long-term and intensive IMTA mariculture on total benthic bacterial communities in the sub-surface sediments of the Ailian Bay were stronger than those on the active benthic bacterial communities, which provided some insights into the potential ecological roles of specific taxa in the sediments of the IMTA ecosystems. </p>