Li, Y.; Wang, Y.; Xu, S.; Hu, B., and Wang, Z.-L., 2017. Effects of mariculture and solar-salt production on sediment microbial community structure in a coastal wetland.

Mariculture and solar-salt production are two pervasive anthropogenic activities in worldwide coastal areas; however, their effects on sediment microbial biomass, community composition, and diversity have received less attention. Here, this question was investigated using the phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) analysis and 16S rRNA gene sequencing in Bohai Rim, northern China. Both mariculture and salt production increased bacterial (+135% and +84%), fungal (+45% and +20%), and total PLFAs contents (+72% and +39%) compared with intertidal wetlands. Furthermore, mariculture and salt production shifted microbial PLFAs compositions. The ratio of fungi:bacteria-PLFAs decreased in mariculture ponds (−40%) and salt fields (−37%) relative to the undisturbed wetland, and the ratio of Gram-positive:Gram-negative bacteria decreased in the salt fields (−67%). Mariculture promoted the relative abundances of Firmicutes and Gemmatimonadetes, while salt production stimulated the relative abundances of Actinobacteria, Spirochaetes, Tenericutes, and Chlamydiae, as compared with the intertidal wetland. The changes in the microbial community composition were mainly attributed to sediment organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, total nitrogen, and . The microbial and bacterial Shannon-Wiener indices, however, did not change under mariculture and salt production. In conclusion, mariculture and sea-salt production had a broad range of effects on sediment microbial biomass and community composition but had little effect on diversity.