Estimation of symbiotic bacterial structure in a sustainable seagrass ecosystem on recycled management

TL;DR

This study identifies key symbiotic bacterial groups associated with thriving seagrass meadows, highlighting their potential role in promoting sustainable seagrass ecosystems and blue carbon sequestration.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model of symbiotic bacterial structures essential for seagrass health, based on revalidated survey data and machine learning analysis.

Findings

Decreased pathogen candidates in thriving seagrass areas

Identification of specific bacterial families linked to seagrass growth

Proposed bacterial groups as targets for ecosystem management

Abstract

Seagrass meadows play an essential role in blue carbon and aquatic ecosystem services. However, methods for the flourishing of seagrass are still being explored. Here, data from 49 public coastal surveys on the distribution of seagrass and seaweed around the onshore aquaculture facilities are revalidated, and an exceptional area where the seagrass Zostera marina thrives was found. The bacterial population there showed an apparent decrease in the pathogen candidates belonging to the order Flavobacteriales. Moreover, structure equation modeling and a linear non-Gaussian acyclic model based on the machine learning data estimated an optimal symbiotic bacterial group candidate for seagrass growth as follows: the Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae families as gut-inhabitant bacteria, Rhodobacteraceae as photosynthetic bacteria, and Desulfobulbaceae as cable bacteria modulating oxygen or nitrate reduction and oxidation of sulfide. These observations confer a novel perspective on the seagrass symbiotic bacterial structures critical for blue carbon and low-pathogenic marine ecosystems in aquaculture.