title: Bacterial diversity patterns of the intertidal biofilm in urban beaches of Río de la Plata.
abstract: Intertidal benthic ecosystems in estuaries are productive sites where microbial processes play critical roles in nutrients mineralization, primary production and trophic web. In this groundwork study we analyzed the bacterial community of intertidal biofilms from Río de la Plata beaches with different anthropogenic impacts. Several environmental parameters were measured and bacterial assemblages were analyzed by 16S-rDNA pyrosequencing. The average OTU found per sample was 527.3±122.5, showing similar richness and diversity among them. However, sites having the highest and lowest salinity displayed higher bacterial diversity. Assemblages from a site nearby an oil refinery, showing the lowest salinity and oxygen concentration, were clearly distinct from the rest. The weight of this splitting relied on OTUs belonging to Thauera, known by its ability to metabolize aromatic compounds. Our results suggest that intertidal bacterial assemblages would be structured by major estuarine variables such as salinity, and that anthropogenic-induced environmental parameters might also be relevant.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay. Electronic address: cpiccini@iibce.edu.uy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Piccini
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biodiversidad, Centro Universitario Regional Este, Universidad de la República, Campus de Maldonado, 20000 Maldonado, Uruguay.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Alonso
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001493:Bathing Beaches / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044822:Biodiversity; D018441:Biofilms; D002947:Cities; D017753:Ecosystem; D063366:Estuaries; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D054712:Salinity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014583:Uruguay
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: 16s-rDNA pyrosequencing; Bacterial assemblage; Intertidal biofilm; Río de la Plata; Thauera