Data for: Effect of seaweed canopy disturbance on understory microbial communities on rocky shores
Data files
Nov 14, 2023 version files 3.05 MB
Abstract
The collapse of macroalgal habitats is altering the structure of benthic communities on rocky shores globally. Nonetheless, how the loss of canopy-forming macroalgae influences the structure of epilithic microbial communities is yet to be explored. Here, we used experimental field manipulations and 16S-rRNA-gene amplicon sequencing to determine the effects of macroalgal loss on the understorey bacterial communities and their relationship with epiphytic bacteria on macroalgae. Beds of the fucoid Hormosira banksii were exposed to different levels of disturbance resulting in five treatments: (i) 100% removal of Hormosira individuals, (ii) 50% removal, (iii) no removal, (iv) a procedural control that mimicked the removal process, but no Hormosira was removed and (v) adjacent bare rock. Canopy cover, bacterial communities (epilithic and epiphytic) and benthic macroorganisms were monitored for 16 months. Results showed that reductions in canopy cover rapidly altered understory bacterial diversity and composition. Hormosira canopies in 50% and 100% removal plots showed signs of recovery over time, but understory epilithic bacterial communities remained distinct throughout the experiment in plots that experienced full Hormosira removal. Changes in bacterial communities were not related to changes in other benthic macroorganisms. These results demonstrate that understory epilithic bacterial communities respond rapidly to environmental disturbances at small scales and these changes can be long-lasting. A deeper knowledge of the ecological role of understory epilithic microbial communities is needed to better understand potential cascading effects of disturbances on the functioning of macroalgal-dominated systems.
README: Data for: Effect of seaweed canopy disturbance on understory microbial communities on rocky shores
Data tables for microbial and macro-organisms were collected using amplicon sequencing (16S) of swabs and photographs. Bioinformatics and normalisation of data from microbial samples were done in two separate groups - a comparison of swabs taken from hormosira’s surface (subset of treatments) compared to the benthic substrate, and the benthic substrate only (all treatments and times). For details see methods of the paper.
Description of the data and file structure (header names). Seven files are included:
- Benthic_quadrat_coverage_analysis.csv percent cover of benthic organisms taken from Covalent image analysis.
- Column headers: Sample_name (unique ID with concatenation of plot ID, time taken (T2-T4 shown with T1 naming function absent)); Image_name; plot ID; time (T1-T4 as corresponding to manuscript dates of sampling); date (month sampled); treatment (of 5 described in ms); plot_rep (unique name of up to 5 replicates taken from each plot. Name is a concatenation of treatment, plot name and replicate number 1-5 for unique sampling event)
- Columns 8-17 list taxonomic groups that were identified in images: Grazers (ie gastropods), Tube worms, Bleached CCA (crustose corraline algae), CCA, Sand, Rock, ACR (articulated calcareous red algae), Turf algae, Brown laminate algae, H. banksii
- Hormosira_substrate_norm_asv_tab.csv ASV table for swabs taken on Hormosira surface and benthic substrate
- Column Headers indicate unique sample name and can be matched to the file above/metadata files below
- Hormosira_substrate_taxa_tab.csv - taxonomic assignment tables for swabs taken on Hormosira surface and benthic substrate
- column headers indicate ASV ID and various taxonomic ranks from kingdom-species
- Hormosira_substrate_metadata.csv - metadata for swabs taken on Hormosira surface and benthic substrate
- Column headers Sample name, time sample taken, date sample taken, treatment (control, procedural control, 50 percent removal treatments only), plot ID, plot replicate for unique sample event, target substrate swabbed (i.e Hormosira surface or benthic understory)
- substrate_metadata - metadata for swabs only taken from benthic substrate
- same column headers as "Hormosira_substrate_metadata.csv" except understory treatments only are included (not Hormosira surface)
- substrate_norm_asv_tab.csv - ASV table for swabs taken on benthic substrate only
- column headers indicate sample name with normalised abundance indicated in rows
- Substrate_taxa_tab.csv - Taxonomic assignment table for swabs taken from the benthic substrate only.
- column headers indicate ASV ID and various taxonomic ranks from kingdom-species
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