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Microbial Biogeography Across the Mediterranean 4 Conclusions Sea EGU Journal Logos (RGB) Open Access Open Access Open Access Advances in Annales Nonlinear Processes Geosciences Geophysicae in Geophysics Open Access Open Access Natural Hazards Natural Hazards and Earth System and Earth System Sciences Sciences Discussions Open Access Open Access Atmospheric Atmospheric Chemistry Chemistry and Physics and Physics Discussions Open Access Open Access Atmospheric Atmospheric Measurement Measurement Techniques Techniques Discussions Open Access Open Access Biogeosciences Biogeosciences Discussions Open Access Open Access Climate Climate of the Past of the Past Discussions Open Access Open Access Earth System Earth System Dynamics Dynamics Discussions Open Access Geoscientific Geoscientific Open Access Instrumentation Instrumentation Methods and Methods and Data Systems Data Systems Discussions Open Access Open Access Geoscientific Geoscientific Model Development Model Development Discussions Open Access Open Access Hydrology and Hydrology and Earth System Earth System Sciences Sciences Discussions Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Open Access Ocean Sci. Discuss., 10, 291–319, 2013 Open Access www.ocean-sci-discuss.net/10/291/2013/ Ocean Science Ocean Science OSD doi:10.5194/osd-10-291-2013 Discussions © Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License. 10, 291–319, 2013 Open Access Open Access This discussion paper is/has been under review for the journal Ocean ScienceSolid (OS). Earth Microbial Please refer to the correspondingSolid final Earth paper in OS if available. Discussions biogeography across the Mediterranean Open Access Open Access Sea The Cryosphere The Cryosphere Biogeography of planktonic microbialDiscussions F. Mapelli et al. communities across the whole Mediterranean Sea Title Page Abstract Introduction F. Mapelli1, M. M. Varela2, M. Barbato1, R. Alvarino˜ 2, M. Fusi1, M. Alvarez´ 2, G. Merlino1, D. Daffonchio1, and S. Borin1 Conclusions References 1Dipartimento di Scienze per gli Alimenti, la Nutrizione e l’Ambiente, Universita` degli Studi di Tables Figures Milano, Milan, Italy 2 Instituto Espanol˜ de Oceanograf´ıa, Centro Oceanografico´ da Coruna.˜ Paseo Mar´ıtimo J I Alcalde Francisco Vazquez no. 10, A Coruna,˜ Spain J I Received: 4 January 2013 – Accepted: 28 January 2013 – Published: 4 February 2013 Back Close Correspondence to: S. Borin ([email protected]) Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. Full Screen / Esc Printer-friendly Version Interactive Discussion 291 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Abstract OSD The M84/3 cruise recently held onboard of R/V Meteor represented a great and rare opportunity for the scientific community to realize a multidisciplinary survey on the 10, 291–319, 2013 whole Mediterranean Sea. In this context, molecular microbiology investigation, real- 5 ized by applying Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Sequence Analysis (ARISA) and Microbial microscope evaluation of prokaryotic abundance, were performed on seawater sam- biogeography across ples aiming to identify the environmental factors driving planktonic bacterial community the Mediterranean composition across both vertical and longitudinal transects. Prokaryotic abundance de- Sea creased along with depth in all the stations and presented similar values in sub-surface, 10 meso- and bathypelagic layers across the whole Mediterranean basin. On the contrary, F. Mapelli et al. peculiar bacterial assemblages were selected along a longitudinal transect in the sur- face layers of the eastern and western sub-basins. Sharp vertical profiling of the bac- terial communities was observed only considering the boundary of the water column, Title Page β while the study of bacterial -diversity at finer scale across the water column displayed Abstract Introduction 15 higher variability at the intermediate layers. Nonetheless, different physico-chemical factors were significantly related to microbial zonation both according to geographic Conclusions References position and across the water column in the whole Mediterranean Sea. These results Tables Figures demonstrated that bacterial diversity is putatively correlated to different water masses across the water column of the complex hydrographical systems of the eastern and J I 20 western Mediterranean sub-basins. J I 1 Introduction Back Close Prokaryotes are key players in sea ecosystems both in terms of biomass and phylo- Full Screen / Esc genetic diversity and for their role in biogeochemical cycles. Only recently, due to the development and advance of molecular tools, marine scientist undertook the investi- Printer-friendly Version 25 gation of microbiome distribution and adaptation to specific environmental conditions in oceans (Agogue´ et al., 2011; Fuhrman et al., 2008; Galand et al., 2009; Hewson Interactive Discussion 292 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | et al., 2006; Lovejoy et al., 2002; Varela et al., 2008a; Yilmaz et al., 2012). Few re- ports focused nevertheless on the ecological structuring of prokaryotes in the Mediter- OSD ranean Sea, mainly by investigating the eastern sub-basin (Feingersch et al., 2010; 10, 291–319, 2013 Moesender et al., 2001; De Corte et al., 2009; Yokokawa et al., 2010). The Mediter- 5 ranean Sea has been proposed as a marine ecosystem hot spot in term of biodiversity, hosting about 17000 marine species belonging to the Eukarya domain and a number Microbial of Bacteria and Archaea species at present impossible to be estimated (Coll et al., biogeography across 2010). The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-enclosed basin divided by the Sicily chan- the Mediterranean nel in two main sub-basins, the western and eastern Mediterranean Sea. A typical Sea 10 trait of Mediterranean seawater is its oligotrophic nature, exceptionally pronounced in the eastern most area, where the condition can be defined ultra-oligotrophic. The low F. Mapelli et al. amount of inorganic phosphorous has been reported as a limiting factor of primary pro- ductivity in the eastern Mediterranean basin (Thingstad et al., 2005). On the contrary, Title Page the lack of thermal confines in the warm deep waters of the Mediterranean makes its 15 bottom layers hospitable for an active microbial community, even though the effect of Abstract Introduction pressure must be considered. Recent reports indicate that it is possible to correlate specific microbial community structure to different water masses in the ocean (Agogue´ Conclusions References et al., 2011; Galand et al., 2009; Varela et al., 2008a, b) but similar studies realized Tables Figures on the Mediterranean Sea could not draw unequivocal conclusions (Tamburini et al., 20 2009; Yokokawa et al., 2010), indicating in some cases a depth related distribution of J I specific groups of prokaryotes (De Corte et al., 2009; Winter et al., 2009). Indeed, the water masses circulation and dynamics is extremely complex in the Mediterranean Sea J I (Bensi et al., 2012; Hecht et al., 1988; Pinardi et al., 2000 and references therein; Ru- Back Close bino et al., 2007) and a pronounced spatial and temporal variability of the water masses 25 composition in the different sub-basins can be related to local geographic peculiarity, Full Screen / Esc such as deep water formation in the Adriatic and the Gulf of Lions, and the water input entering the basin from the Strait of Gibraltar, the Black Sea and the Suez channel. Printer-friendly Version Most of the microbiological investigations realized on the Mediterranean Sea focus on a small number of stations, generally located in a narrow area (De Corte et al., 2009; Interactive Discussion 293 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Tamburini et al., 2009; Yokokawa et al., 2010). Taking advantage of the M83/4 cruise, held onboard of R/V Meteor during April 2011, in the present work we studied the ver- OSD tical and longitudinal distribution of bacterial populations in different sampling stations 10, 291–319, 2013 located across the whole Mediterranean Sea, from the Levantine to the Alboran basins. 5 Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Sequence Analysis (ARISA) was proved as a valu- able tool for describing the bacterial community structure in marine ecosystems (Borin Microbial et al., 2009a, b; Fuhrman et al., 2008; Hewson et al., 2006; Zehr et al., 2009) and it was biogeography across applied here aiming to depict the microbiome structure of surface, meso- and bathy- the Mediterranean pelagic realms. The aims of the present study were (i) to identify distinct or common Sea 10 patterns of bacterial diversity in surface and deep waters sampled from twenty three stations along a longitudinal transect in the whole Mediterranean Sea and (ii) to de- F. Mapelli et al. scribe microbiome composition of the seawater collected throughout the water column at eight stations located in the eastern and the western Mediterranean basins. Title Page To the best of our knowledge this is one of the most comprehensive investigations 15 of bacterioplankton diversity realized along a longitudinal transect in surface and deep Abstract Introduction Mediterranean oligotrophic marine biomes. Conclusions References 2 Materials and methods Tables Figures 2.1 Study site, sample collection and oceanographic data J I Sampling was carried out during the cruise M84/3 held on April 2011 on the R/V Me- J I 20 teor. Sampling stations were located in the main sub-basins (eastern and western) of Back Close the Mediterranean Sea, across a longitudinal
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