First evaluation of foraminiferal metabarcoding for monitoring environmental impact from an offshore oil drilling site.
At present, environmental impacts from offshore oil and gas activities are partly determined by measuring changes in macrofauna diversity. Morphological identification of macrofauna is time-consuming, expensive and dependent on taxonomic expertise. In this study, we evaluated the applicability of using foraminiferal-specific metabarcoding for routine monitoring. Sediment samples were collected along distance gradients from two oil platforms off Taranaki (New Zealand) and their physico-chemical properties, foraminiferal environmental DNA/RNA, and macrofaunal composition analyzed. Macrofaunal and foraminiferal assemblages showed similar shifts along impact gradients, but responded differently to environmental perturbations. Macrofauna were affected by hypoxia, whereas sediment grain size appeared to drive shifts in foraminifera. We identified eight foraminiferal molecular operational taxonomic units that have potential to be used as bioindicator taxa. Our results show that metabarcoding represents an effective tool for assessing foraminiferal communities near offshore oil and gas platforms, and that it can be used to complement current monitoring techniques.
Environmental Technologies, Coastal and Freshwater Group, Cawthron Institute, Private Bag 2, Nelson 7042, New Zealand; School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. Electronic address: olar785@aucklanduni.ac.nz.
Olivier
O
Laroche
Environmental Technologies, Coastal and Freshwater Group, Cawthron Institute, Private Bag 2, Nelson 7042, New Zealand; Environmental Research Institute, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand.
Susanna A
SA
Wood
Environmental Technologies, Coastal and Freshwater Group, Cawthron Institute, Private Bag 2, Nelson 7042, New Zealand; School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
Louis A
LA
Tremblay
Red Sea Research Centre, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
Joanne I
JI
Ellis
Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Franck
F
Lejzerowicz
Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Jan
J
Pawlowski
School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
Gavin
G
Lear
Environmental Technologies, Coastal and Freshwater Group, Cawthron Institute, Private Bag 2, Nelson 7042, New Zealand.
Javier
J
Atalah
Environmental Technologies, Coastal and Freshwater Group, Cawthron Institute, Private Bag 2, Nelson 7042, New Zealand; Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Private Bag 349, Warkworth 0941, New Zealand.
Xavier
X
Pochon
D044822:Biodiversity; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D056908:Foraminifera / Q000737:chemistry*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D061329:Oil and Gas Fields; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
D014873:Water Pollutants
Benthic ecology; Biomonitoring; Foraminifera; High-throughput sequencing; Metabarcoding; Oil and gas drilling operations