Elena Tamburini
University of Cagliari, Italy
Title: Analysis of bacterioplankton community by Illumina Sequencing of 16S rRNA genes during a field-scale bioremediation test in a Tunisian tourist port
Biography
Biography: Elena Tamburini
Abstract
Marine legislation requires monitoring programs to assess ecological integrity and marine health status at different spatial and temporal scales. Bacteria are an important component of biota in marine environments where they play a fundamental role in element cycling and functioning of the ecosystems. In consideration of the fast growth rate and the consequently rapid responses, prokaryotic communities are suitable ecosystem component for the ecological quality assessment of the marine environment over very fine spatial and short temporal scales.
This study was carried out in the framework of the project MAPMED, a multidisciplinary project aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of tourist ports in the Mediterranean Sea by the optimization, validation and transfer of tools for monitoring and reduction of marine pollution. The present work was directed to define the structure and composition of the bacterioplankton community during a multidisciplinary physico-chemical and ecological monitoring of a field-scale demonstration of (bio)remediation technology in the water compartment at the tourist port of El Kantaoui (Tunisia). A bimonthly monitoring program was implemented over one year. The bacterioplankton communities is currently under characterization by Next Generation Sequencing with the MiSeq platform. The present study will define the seasonal variation as well as the effect of treatments on bacterioplankton communities.
