Introducing the Mangrove Microbiome Initiative: Identifying Microbial Research Priorities and Approaches To Better Understand, Protect, and Rehabilitate Mangrove Ecosystems

Sarah M Allard; Matthew T Costa; Ashley N Bulseco; Véronique Helfer; Laetitia G E Wilkins; Christiane Hassenrück; Karsten Zengler; Martin Zimmer; Natalia Erazo; Jorge L Mazza Rodrigues; Norman Duke; Vânia M M Melo; Inka Vanwonterghem; Howard Junca; Huxley M Makonde; Diego Javier Jiménez; Tallita C L Tavares; Marco Fusi; Daniele Daffonchio; Carlos M Duarte; Raquel S Peixoto; Alexandre S Rosado; Jack A Gilbert; Jeff Bowman

doi:10.1128/mSystems.00658-20

Introducing the Mangrove Microbiome Initiative: Identifying Microbial Research Priorities and Approaches To Better Understand, Protect, and Rehabilitate Mangrove Ecosystems

mSystems. 2020 Oct 20;5(5):e00658-20. doi: 10.1128/mSystems.00658-20.

Authors

Sarah M Allard¹, Matthew T Costa², Ashley N Bulseco³, Véronique Helfer⁴, Laetitia G E Wilkins⁵, Christiane Hassenrück^{6

7}, Karsten Zengler^{8

9

10}, Martin Zimmer^{4

11

12}, Natalia Erazo², Jorge L Mazza Rodrigues¹³, Norman Duke^{12

14}, Vânia M M Melo¹⁵, Inka Vanwonterghem¹⁶, Howard Junca¹⁷, Huxley M Makonde¹⁸, Diego Javier Jiménez¹⁹, Tallita C L Tavares²⁰, Marco Fusi^{21

22}, Daniele Daffonchio²², Carlos M Duarte²², Raquel S Peixoto^{5

23}, Alexandre S Rosado^{13

23}, Jack A Gilbert^{8

2

10}, Jeff Bowman^{24

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA smallard@health.ucsd.edu jsbowman@ucsd.edu.
² Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
³ Marine Science Discipline, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.
⁴ Department of Ecology, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Bremen, Germany.
⁵ Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.
⁶ Tropical Marine Microbiology, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Bremen, Germany.
⁷ Micropaleontology-Paleoceanography, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
⁸ Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
⁹ Department of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
¹⁰ Center for Microbiome Innovation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
¹¹ University of Bremen, Faculty 02 Biology/Chemistry, Bremen, Germany.
¹² IUCN SSC-Mangrove Specialist Group.
¹³ Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.
¹⁴ Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.
¹⁵ Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
¹⁶ Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
¹⁷ RG Microbial Ecology: Metabolism, Genomics & Evolution, Microbiomas Foundation, Chia, Colombia.
¹⁸ Department of Pure & Applied Sciences, Technical University of Mombasa, Mombasa, Kenya.
¹⁹ Microbiomes and Bioenergy Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
²⁰ Marine Sciences Institute, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
²¹ Edinburgh Napier University School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
²² Red Sea Research Center, BESE, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division, KAUST, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
²³ Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
²⁴ Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA smallard@health.ucsd.edu jsbowman@ucsd.edu.

Abstract

Mangrove ecosystems provide important ecological benefits and ecosystem services, including carbon storage and coastline stabilization, but they also suffer great anthropogenic pressures. Microorganisms associated with mangrove sediments and the rhizosphere play key roles in this ecosystem and make essential contributions to its productivity and carbon budget. Understanding this nexus and moving from descriptive studies of microbial taxonomy to hypothesis-driven field and lab studies will facilitate a mechanistic understanding of mangrove ecosystem interaction webs and open opportunities for microorganism-mediated approaches to mangrove protection and rehabilitation. Such an effort calls for a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, involving chemists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, microbiologists, oceanographers, plant scientists, conservation biologists, and stakeholders, and it requires standardized methods to support reproducible experiments. Here, we outline the Mangrove Microbiome Initiative, which is focused around three urgent priorities and three approaches for advancing mangrove microbiome research.

Keywords: ecosystem rehabilitation; ecosystem services; mangrove; microbiome; rhizosphere.