Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2023, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (6): 111-119.doi: 10.11978/2023011CSTR: 32234.14.2023011

• Marine Biology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of seawater acidification on microorganisms associated with Aurelia coerulea polyps

SUN Tingting1,2(), HAO Wenjin3(), XU Pengzhen1,2, YE Lijing1,4, DONG Zhijun1()   

  1. 1. Muping Coastal Environment Research Station, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3. School of Life Sciences, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China
    4. College of Life Sciences, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
  • Received:2023-02-01 Revised:2023-03-28 Online:2023-11-10 Published:2023-04-07
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(41876138); National Natural Science Foundation of China(U2106208); Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA23050301)

Abstract:

Ocean acidification (OA) poses strong threat to marine organisms, and studying the impact of OA on their associated microbial communities is important for understanding the adaptive mechanisms of host and microbial response to environmental stresses. Moon jellyfish (Aurelia coerulea) is the dominant species of disaster jellyfish in China and plays an important role in marine ecosystem. In this study, we investigated the effects of future OA (pH 7.8 and 7.6) on the structure and function of the A. coerulea polyp-associated microbial communities using Biolog-ECO and metagenomic approaches. The results showed that the structures and functions of the microbial community associated with A. coerulea polyps were conserved in different degrees of seawater acidification. Biolog-ECO results showed that seawater acidification had little effect on the microbial metabolic activity, diversity index and carbon source utilization of the associated microbial community of A. coerulea polyps. The metagenomic results showed that seawater acidification did not affect the dominant species and community structure of the microorganisms. Tenericute, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant groups of the community. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the function of associated microorganisms exposed to different acidification conditions. Therefore, we speculate that future OA will not affect the polyps by altering the community structures of their associated microorganisms.

Key words: climate change, Biolog-ECO method, metagenomics, structure of community, metabolic function