title: Impacts of bioturbation on temporal variation in bacterial and archaeal nitrogen-cycling gene abundance in coastal sediments.
abstract: In marine environments, macrofauna living in or on the sediment surface may alter the structure, diversity and function of benthic microbial communities. In particular, microbial nitrogen (N)-cycling processes may be enhanced by the activity of large bioturbating organisms. Here, we study the effect of the burrowing mud shrimp Upogebia deltaura upon temporal variation in the abundance of genes representing key N-cycling functional guilds. The abundance of bacterial genes representing different N-cycling guilds displayed different temporal patterns in burrow sediments in comparison with surface sediments, suggesting that the burrow provides a unique environment where bacterial gene abundances are influenced directly by macrofaunal activity. In contrast, the abundances of archaeal ammonia oxidizers varied temporally but were not affected by bioturbation, indicating differential responses between bacterial and archaeal ammonia oxidizers to environmental physicochemical controls. This study highlights the importance of bioturbation as a control over the temporal variation in nitrogen-cycling microbial community dynamics within coastal sediments.
authors.affiliation: Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK; School of Plant Biology and the UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laverock
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tait
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Osborn
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Widdicombe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D044822:Biodiversity; D033364:Decapoda / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D017753:Ecosystem; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D058458:Nitrogen Cycle; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D009584:Nitrogen