The spatial patterns of bacterial communities in suspended particulate matter across the inner Great Barrier Reef
Bahadori, Mohammad, Chen, Chengrong, Lewis, Stephen, Wang, Juntao, Shen, Jupei, and Stevens, Tom (2025) The spatial patterns of bacterial communities in suspended particulate matter across the inner Great Barrier Reef. Journal of Soils and Sediments, 25 (5). pp. 1737-1748.
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Abstract
Purpose: Microbial communities play a significant role in maintaining the health of Great Barrier Reef (GBR) ecosystems, however, the influence of sediment composition and other environmental factors such as temperature and wave regime on microbial communities are largely unknown. Here we show how sediment composition and exposure influences bacterial communities across the inner section of the GBR (Cleveland Bay, Halifax Bay and Dunk Island) between 2016 and 2018. Materials and methods: Sediment traps were installed and routinely deployed (~ every 3 months) at eight sites in the inshore GBR and analysed for water chemistry, sediment geochemistry and organic characteristics and associated bacterial communities. Results and discussion: Results showed a significant variation in water turbidity, sediment collection rate and geochemistry across the trap sites. Bacterial communities also significantly varied along the inner GBR, with the shift in relative abundance of Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Planctomycete, Verrucomicrobia and Chloroflexi being the main cause of the bacterial community dynamics. The variation in spatial patterns of bacterial communities was highly correlated with water turbidity and the geochemical characteristics of associated sediments (e.g., K, Fe, Mn, Co, Al, Cr, Ca) collected across the marine trap sites. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that sediment composition and collection rate (and linked water turbidity) can change the spatial patterns of bacterial communities by creating environmental gradients along the inner section of the GBR.
| Item ID: | 88094 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1614-7480 |
| Keywords: | Coral reefs, Microbial community, Water quality |
| Copyright Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Mar 2026 06:13 |
| FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180504 Marine biodiversity @ 100% |
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