Composition and functionality of bacterioplankton communities in marine coastal zones adjacent to finfish aquaculture

Abstract

Finfish aquaculture is one of the fastest-growing primary industries globally and is increasingly common in coastal ecosystems. Bacterioplankton is ubiquitous in marine environment and respond rapidly to environmental changes. However, little is known about the effect of the aquaculture in the bacterioplankton community. This study aims to examine aquaculture effects in the composition and functional profiles of the bacterioplankton community using amplicon sequencing along a distance gradient from two finfish leases in a marine embayment. Our results revealed natural stratification in bacterioplankton strongly associated to NOx, conductivity, salinity, temperature and PO4. Among the differentially abundant bacteria in leases, we found members associated with nutrient enrichment and aquaculture activities. Abundant predicted functions near leases were assigned to organic matter degradation, fermentation, and antibiotic resistance. This study provides a first effort to describe changes in the bacterioplankton community composition and function due to finfish aquaculture in a semi-enclosed and highly stratified embayment.