Meeting Abstract
Metagenomic approaches are widely used to examine prokaryotic community composition, but less often applied to eukaryotic organisms. We have been using a novel high-throughput Illumina sequencing approach to characterize meiofauna community composition within the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Meiofauna are generally described as metazoan animals 45 µm to 1 mm in size that live between sediment grains. These animals play an important role in food webs and nutrient exchange between the benthos and water column. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill dramatically affected meiofauna in both intertidal and subtidal GOM locations. Unfortunately, knowledge of seasonality and variability of meiofauna communities in most of the GOM is lacking. To better understand the spatial and temporal variation in GOM meiofauna communities as a whole, high-throughput amplicon sequencing targeting the eukaryotic specific hypervariable V9 region of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene was employed to examine intertidal and subtidal communities. Results show similar to pre-spill communities, annelid, nematode, and arthropod taxa dominated samples, with fungal species in low abundances. Samples cluster mostly by site rather than season, and seasonal variation was site dependent. In addition, this research provides a fundamental baseline to examine community impacts of future natural and anthropogenic disturbances in the Gulf of Mexico region and suggests the community shifts seen in sites impacted by the spill cannot be attributed to seasonal or geographic variability.
