Changes in the Bacterioplankton Community Structure from Southern Gulf of Mexico During a Simulated Crude Oil Spill at Mesocosm Scale

Abstract

The southern Gulf of Mexico (sGoM) is highly susceptible to receiving environmental impacts due to the recent increase in oil-related activities. In this study, we assessed the changes in the bacterioplankton community structure caused by a simulated oil spill at mesocosms scale. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis indicated that the initial bacterial community was mainly represented by Gamma-proteobacteria, Alpha-proteobacteria, Flavobacteriia, and Cyanobacteria. The hydrocarbon degradation activity, measured as the number of culturable hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (CHB) and by the copy number of the alkB gene, was relatively low at the beginning of the experiment. However, after four days, the hydrocarbonoclastic activity reached its maximum values and was accompanied by increases in the relative abundance of the well-known hydrocarbonoclastic Alteromonas. At the end of the experiment, the diversity was restored to similar values as those observed in the initial time, although the community structure and composition were clearly different, where Marivita, Pseudohongiella, and Oleibacter were detected to have differential abundances on days eight–14. These changes were related with total nitrogen (p value = 0.030 and r2 = 0.22) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (p value = 0.048 and r2 = 0.25), according to PERMANOVA. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of the potential response of the bacterioplankton from sGoM to crude oil spills.

Bacterial Abundance, Diversity and Activity During Long-Term Colonization of Non-biodegradable and Biodegradable Plastics in Seawater

“…and Marinobacter sp. These two genera have never been listed as PCL degraders, but the first was found highly abundant after crude oil pollution ( Valencia-Agami et al, 2019 ; Peng et al, 2020 ) and the second contains well-known hydrocarbonoclastic species ( Grimaud et al, 2012 ; Cui et al, 2016 ), which is consistent with the petroleum nature of the polymer. Another contributing OTU was affiliated with Flavobacteriaceae that were already shown as potential PCL degraders ( Lopardo and Urakawa, 2019 ) or capable of using complex carbon sources ( Rodriguez-Sanchez et al, 2016 ).…”

Ocean monitoring, observation network and modelling of the Gulf of Mexico by CIGOM

“…In addition to these evaluations, several experimental mesocosm protocols were implemented to determine changes in the vulnerability of phytoplankton and bacterial communities to different concentrations of oil and exposure time. These experiments were complemented with bioassays to identify indicators to evaluate vulnerability based on cellular, histological and immunological responses in two species of coastal fishes (Cañizares Martı ́nez et al, 2018;Garcia-Cruz et al, 2019;Uribe-Flores et al, 2019;Valencia-Agami et al, 2019;Améndola-Pimenta et al, 2020;Couoh-Puga et al, 2020;Gonzaĺez-Penagos et al, 2020;Quintanilla-Mena et al, 2020;Rodríguez-Salazar et al, 2020;Uribe-Flores et al, 2021;Zamora-Briseño et al, 2021).…”

Bacteria From the Southern Gulf of Mexico: Baseline, Diversity, Hydrocarbon-Degrading Potential and Future Applications

“…Likewise, biodegradation studies at a mesocosm scale (Venosa and Zhu, 2003;Delille and Coulon, 2008) have been conducted in situ in polluted soils. For bacterial consortia in marine mesocosm systems, variables related to the oil biodegradation process must be considered, such as temperature (Bagi et al, 2013;Al-Hawash et al, 2018), the concentration of dissolved oxygen (Vilcáez et al, 2013), hydrocarbon biodegradation, and availability of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus (Cappello et al, 2007;Bagi et al, 2013;Ron and Rosenberg, 2014;Valencia-Agami et al, 2019).…”