Abstract
Rates of sea level rise associated with climate change are predicted to increase in the future, potentially altering ecosystems at all ecological levels. Sea level rise can increase the extent of brackish water intrusion into freshwater ecosystems, which in turn can affect the structure and function of resident microbial communities. In this study, we performed a year-long mesocosm experiment using intact tidal freshwater marsh sediment cores to examine the effect of a 5-part per thousand (ppt) salinity increase on the diversity and community composition of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes. We used a clone library approach to examine the dsrA gene, which encodes an important catalytic enzyme in sulfate reduction. Our results indicate that tidal freshwater marshes contain extremely diverse communities of sulfate-reducing bacteria. Members of these communities were, on average, only 71 % similar to known cultured sulfate reducers and 81 % similar to previously sequenced environmental clones. Salinity and associated increases in sulfate availability did not significantly affect the diversity or community composition of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes. However, carbon quality and quantity, which correlated with depth, were found to be the strongest drivers of sulfate-reducing community structure. Our study demonstrates that the sulfate-reducing community in tidal freshwater marsh sediments appears resistant to increased salinity in the face of sea level rise. Additionally, the microorganisms that comprise this sulfate-reducing community appear to be unique to tidal freshwater marsh sediments and may represent novel lineages of previously undescribed sulfate reducers.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank James Quinn for assistance in the field and laboratory, Dennis Wykoff for assistance with DNA extraction, Jason Scheidel for equipment use, and the Department of Biology at Villanova University for additional resources. This research was supported by the Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results Grant (EPA-STAR, RD 83222202) to M.A.V. and by a Villanova Undergraduate Research Fellowship to T.Z. Additional support was provided to JLB and PJK by two National Science Foundation awards (NSF OCE 1353140 and NSF DEB 1350491) to JLB.
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Kearns, P.J., Weston, N.B., Bowen, J.L. et al. Tidal Freshwater Marshes Harbor Phylogenetically Unique Clades of Sulfate Reducers That Are Resistant to Climate-Change-Induced Salinity Intrusion. Estuaries and Coasts 39, 981–991 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-016-0067-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-016-0067-3