The effects of flow field on the succession of the microbial community on artificial reefs

Abstract

The flow field is one of the most important external conditions affecting the development of biofouling community on artificial reefs (ARs), especially the microbial community. In this article, we investigated the temporal dynamics of microbial communities between the stoss side and the lee side of ARs. The results showed that the composition and structure of microbial and macrobenthic communities between the stoss side and the lee side both presented obvious temporal variations. Microbial diversity and richness were higher on the stoss side than that on the lee side. There was a greater impact on bacterial and archaeal communities on temporal scale compared to that on micro-spatial scale, which was not suitable for the fungal community. The organism biomass, abundance and coverage of macrobenthic community on the lee side were higher than those on the stoss side, and the microbial diversity on the stoss side increased significantly with the organism coverage.

Keywords: Artificial reef; Flow field; High-throughput sequencing; Microbial community; Succession.