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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2006, p. 3357-3366, Vol. 72, No. 5
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.72.5.3357-3366.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Diversity, Composition, and Geographical Distribution of Microbial Communities in California Salt Marsh Sediments
Ana Lucía Córdova-Kreylos,1* Yiping Cao,2 Peter G. Green,3 Hyun-Min Hwang,3 Kathryn M. Kuivila,4 Michael G. LaMontagne,2,
Laurie C. Van De Werfhorst,2
Patricia A. Holden,2 and
Kate M. Scow1
Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, California 95616-5200,1 Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-5131,2 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, California 95616-5200,3 U.S. Geological Survey, Placer Hall, California State University, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, California 95819-61294
Received 24 October 2005/ Accepted 2 March 2006
The Pacific Estuarine Ecosystem Indicators Research Consortium seeks to develop bioindicators of toxicant-induced stress and bioavailability for wetland biota. Within this framework, the effects of environmental and pollutant variables on microbial communities were studied at different spatial scales over a 2-year period. Six salt marshes along the California coastline were characterized using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis. Additionally, 27 metals, six currently used pesticides, total polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chlordanes, nonachlors, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane, and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene were analyzed. Sampling was performed over large (between salt marshes), medium (stations within a marsh), and small (different channel depths) spatial scales. Regression and ordination analysis suggested that the spatial variation in microbial communities exceeded the variation attributable to pollutants. PLFA analysis and TRFLP canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) explained 74 and 43% of the variation, respectively, and both methods attributed 34% of the variation to tidal cycles, marsh, year, and latitude. After accounting for spatial variation using partial CCA, we found that metals had a greater effect on microbial community composition than organic pollutants had. Organic carbon and nitrogen contents were positively correlated with PLFA biomass, whereas total metal concentrations were positively correlated with biomass and diversity. Higher concentrations of heavy metals were negatively correlated with branched PLFAs and positively correlated with methyl- and cyclo-substituted PLFAs. The strong relationships observed between pollutant concentrations and some of the microbial indicators indicated the potential for using microbial community analyses in assessments of the ecosystem health of salt marshes.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of LAWR, 1110 PES Building, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616. Phone: (530) 752-0146. Fax: (530) 752-1552. E-mail: anacordova{at}ucdavis.edu.
Present address: Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA 70609-9200.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2006, p. 3357-3366, Vol. 72, No. 5
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.72.5.3357-3366.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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[Abstract] [Full Text]
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