Lv, X.; Yu, P.; Mao, W., and Li, Y., 2018. Vertical variations in bacterial community composition and environmental factors in the culture pond sediment of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. In: Wang, D. and Guido-Aldana, P.A. (eds.), Select Proceedings from the 3rd International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2017). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 84, pp. 69–76. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.
The bacterial communities in culture pond sediments play important roles in the decomposition of organic matter, the release of nutrients and conservation of water quality. To explore the vertical variations in the microbial communities and environmental factors in the sediment accumulation of the sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus Selenka) culture pond, microbial community compositions were determined by high-throughput sequencing and environmental factors were measured using samples collected at different sediment depths. A total of 113,161 high-quality reads and 17,317 operational taxonomic units (OUTs) were obtained from different sediment samples. The results showed that the sediment of culture ponds has the characteristics of high organic matter, nitrogen, and sulfur contents and low phosphate contents. The bacterial richness was higher in the surface layer of the sediment. In total, 31 phyla were identified, among which the Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, Gemmatimonadetes and Nitrospirae were the dominant phyla in the sediment. Principle component analysis (PCA) showed that total-phosphate, salinity, NH4+, pH and PO43− were the main factors that influenced the microbial communities. This study will deepen our understanding of aquaculture environmental regulation and provide theoretical guidance for the exploitation of probiotics.
