Biophysical and physiological processes causing oxygen loss from coral reefs

The microbialization of coral reefs predicts that microbial oxygen consumption will cause reef deoxygenation. Here we tested this hypothesis by analyzing reef microbial and primary producer oxygen metabolisms. Metagenomic data and in vitro incubations of bacteria with primary producer exudates showe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2019-12, Vol.8
Main Authors: Silveira, Cynthia B, Luque, Antoni, Roach, Ty Nf, Villela, Helena, Barno, Adam, Green, Kevin, Reyes, Brandon, Rubio-Portillo, Esther, Le, Tram, Mead, Spencer, Hatay, Mark, Vermeij, Mark Ja, Takeshita, Yuichiro, Haas, Andreas, Bailey, Barbara, Rohwer, Forest
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Analysis
Animals
Anthozoa - physiology
Bacteria
Bacteria - metabolism
Biomass
Biophysics
Bubbles
Carbon
Carbon - metabolism
Coral Reefs
Corals
Dehydrogenases
dissolved organic carbon
Ecology
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Edwards, R
Energy (Physics)
Environmental aspects
Enzymes
Exudates
fleshy algae
Genes
Heterotrophic bacteria
Heterotrophic Processes
Metabolism
Metagenome
Metagenomics
Microalgae - metabolism
microbialization
Microorganisms
Oxidation
Oxidation-reduction reactions
oxygen
Oxygen - metabolism
Oxygen consumption
Physiological aspects
Physiological Phenomena - physiology
Pollution
Reefs
Respiration
Seawater - microbiology
Water Microbiology
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Summary:The microbialization of coral reefs predicts that microbial oxygen consumption will cause reef deoxygenation. Here we tested this hypothesis by analyzing reef microbial and primary producer oxygen metabolisms. Metagenomic data and in vitro incubations of bacteria with primary producer exudates showed that fleshy algae stimulate incomplete carbon oxidation metabolisms in heterotrophic bacteria. These metabolisms lead to increased cell sizes and abundances, resulting in bacteria consuming 10 times more oxygen than in coral incubations. Experiments probing the dissolved and gaseous oxygen with primary producers and bacteria together indicated the loss of oxygen through ebullition caused by heterogenous nucleation on algae surfaces. A model incorporating experimental production and loss rates predicted that microbes and ebullition can cause the loss of up to 67% of gross benthic oxygen production. This study indicates that microbial respiration and ebullition are increasingly relevant to reef deoxygenation as reefs become dominated by fleshy algae.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.49114