Biodiversity, Benthic Communities and Bioturbation

In this study, published in 2009 by Bertics and Ziebis, a combination of field and laboratory approaches were used in order to assess the effect of bioturbation on microbial diversity in a coastal lagoon (Catalina Harbor, Santa Catalina Island, CA, USA). The activity of two crustaceans, the ghost shrimp (Neotrypaea californiensis) and the fiddler crab (Uca crenulata) was assessed using detailed geochemical analyses, including oxygen microsensor measurements, to characterize environmental parameters. Furthermore, ARISA (amplified ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis) was used to compare the bacterial diversity along geochemical gradients and in relation to subsurface microniches.

One of the main aims of this study was to address whether burrows support similar or unique communities compared with the sediment surface by observing how varying environmental parameters affect benthic microbial communities. The results showed that microbial communities on the sediment surface are distinct from subsurface assemblages, and furthermore that different burrow types support diverse bacterial taxa. Comparisons drawn from the statistics indicate that availability of different oxidants are huge influencers of the presence and abundance of different taxa. When geochemical parameters were similar, the microbial communities affiliated with burrows were significantly similar to communities found on the sediment surface.

I found this paper to be a pleasant and simple read. It’s both concise and detailed which makes it very easy to follow and understand. The methods are the only part which I found to be a bit more difficult to comprehend and they seem to be unnecessarily long with many headings that I feel could have been condensed down further.

Reference: Bertics, V. and Ziebis, W. (2009). Biodiversity of benthic microbial communities in bioturbated coastal sediments is controlled by geochemical microniches. The ISME Journal, 3(11), pp.1269-1285