Shifts in benthic bacterial communities associated with farming stages and a microbiological proxy for assessing sulfidic sediment conditions at fish farms

• Published in: Marine pollution bulletin Vol. 178; p. 113603
• Main Authors: Choi, Ayeon, Lee, Tae Kwon, Cho, Hyeyoun, Lee, Won-Chan, Hyun, Jung-Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-05-2022; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Anoxia; Anoxic sediments; Aquaculture; Bacteria; Bacterial indicator; Benthos; Farms; Fermentation; Fish; Fish culture; Fish farming; Fish farms; Fisheries; Hydrogen sulfide; Organic carbon; Oxidation; Sediment; Sediments; Sulfate reduction; Sulfate reduction rate; Sulfate-reducing bacteria; Sulfates; Sulfides; Sulfidic conditions; Sulfur; Sulfurovum; Sulphate reduction; Sulphides; Sulphur; Fish farming; Sulfidic conditions; Sulfate-reducing bacteria; Sulfurovum; Sulfate reduction rate; Bacterial indicator
• ISSN: 0025-326X; 1879-3363
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113603

To assess the aquaculture-induced sediment conditions associated with sulfur cycles, shifts in bacterial communities across farming stages were investigated. The sulfate reduction rate (SRR), and concentrations of acid volatile sulfide (AVS) and H2S were significantly higher at the mid- and post-farming stages than at the early stage, indicating that the aquaculture effects persist even after harvest. Incomplete organic carbon–oxidizing sulfate-reducing bacteria (IO-SRB) affiliated with Desulfobulbaceae, and gammaproteobacterial sulfur oxidizing bacteria (SOB) (Thiohalobacter, Thioprofundum, and Thiohalomonas) were dominant during the early stage, whereas fermenting bacteria (Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes) and complete oxidizing SRB (CO-SRB) belonging to Desulfobacteraceae, and epsilonproteobacterial SOB (Sulfurovum) dominated during the mid- and post-stages. The shift in SRB and SOB communities well reflected the anoxic and sulfidic conditions of farm sediment. Especially, the Sulfurovum-like SOB correlated highly and positively with H2S, AVS, and SRR, suggesting that they could be relevant microbiological proxies to assess sulfidic conditions in farm sediment.
•Intense aquaculture activities resulted in highly sulfidic and anoxic sediment conditions.•Shifts in benthic bacterial communities occur with the farming stages.•Fermenters and Desulfobacteraceae predominated under extremely anoxic conditions.•Sulfurovum significantly increased in highly sulfidic condition.•Sulfurovum could be used as a proxy to assess sulfidic conditions of the farm sediment.