Influence of oyster culture on biogeochemistry and bacterial community structure at the sediment-water interface

Type Article
Date 2012-10
Language English
Author(s) Azandegbe Afi, Poly Franck2, Andrieux FrancoiseORCID3, Kerouel Roger3, Philippon Xavier3, Nicolas Jean-Louis1
Affiliation(s) 1 : IFREMER, Ctr Brest, LEMAR, Lab Physiol Invertebres,PFOM,UMR 6539, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
2 : Univ Lyon 1, CNRS, USC1193, Lab Ecol Microbienne,INRA,UMR5557, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France.
3 : IFREMER, Ctr Brest, Lab Dyneco, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
Source Fems Microbiology Ecology (0168-6496) (Wiley-blackwell), 2012-10 , Vol. 82 , N. 1 , P. 102-117
DOI 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2012.01410.x
WOS© Times Cited 12
Keyword(s) sediment, biogeochemical parameters, fluxes, bacterial structure, Crassostrea gigas
Abstract Bacterial community structure and some biogeochemical parameters were studied in the sediment of two Pacific oyster farming sites, Aber Benoît (AB) and Rivière d'Auray (RA) in Brittany (France), to examine the ecological impact of oysters and to evaluate the emission of sulfide and ammonia from sediment. At AB, the organic matter accumulated in the sediment beneath the oyster tables was rapidly mineralized, with strong fluxes of ammonia and sulfide that reached 1014 μmol m−2 h−1 - and 215 μmol m−2 h−1, respectively, in June 2007. At RA, the fluxes were about half as strong on average and better distributed through the year. The ammonia and sulfide concentrations in the overlying water never reached levels that would be toxic to oysters in either site, nor did hypoxia occur.

Total culturable bacteria (TCB) varied greatly according to the temperature: from 1.6 104 to 9.4 107.cell g−1 sediment. Inversely, the bacterial community structure remained surprising stable through the seasons, marginally influenced by the presence of oysters and by temperature. Bacterial communities appeared to be characteristic of the sites, with only one common phylotype, Vibrio aestuarianus a potential oyster pathogen. These data refine the hypothesis of seawater toxicity to oysters due to ammonia and sulfide fluxes and show that the measured environmental factors only had a weak influence on bacterial community structure.
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