| Title | Antarctic coastal nanoplankton dynamics revealed by metabarcoding of desalination plant filters: Detection of short-term events and implications for routine monitoring |
| Abstract | One of the main requirements of any sound biological monitoring is the availability of long term and, possibly, temporal data with a high resolution. This is often difficult to be achieved, especially in Antarctica, due to a variety of logistic constraints, which make continuous sampling and monitoring activities generally unfeasible. Here we focus on the 5 ?m filters used in the desalination plant of the Italian research base "Mario Zucchelli" in the Terra Nova Bay area (Ross Sea, Antarctica) to evaluate intra-annual coastal nanoplankton dynamics. These filters, together with others of larger mesh sizes, are used to decrease the amount of organisms and debris in the input seawater before the desalination processes take place, hence automatically collect the plankton present in the water column around the desalination system intake. We have used a DNA metabarcoding approach to characterize the communities retained by filters' sets collected in January 2012 and 2013. Intra-annual dynamics were disclosed with an unprecedented detail, that would not have been possible by using standard sampling approaches, and highlighted the importance of extreme, stochastic events such as katabatic wind pulses, which triggered dramatic, short-term shifts in coastal nanoplankton composition. This method, by combining a cost-effective sampling and molecular techniques, may represent a viable solution for long-term monitoring programs focusing on Antarctic coastal communities. |
| Source | Science of the total environment 757 (143809) |
| Keywords | AntarcticaDNA metabarcoding |
| Journal | Science of the total environment |
| Editor | Elsevier, Lausanne ;, Paesi Bassi |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143809 |
| Authors | Matteo Cecchetto, Andrea Di Cesare, Ester Eckert, Giulia Fassio, Diego Fontaneto, Isabella Moro, Marco Oliverio, Katia Sciuto, Giovanni Tassistro, Luigi Vezzulli, Stefano Schiaparelli |
| Text | 437078 2021 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143809 Antarctica DNA metabarcoding Antarctic coastal nanoplankton dynamics revealed by metabarcoding of desalination plant filters Detection of short term events and implications for routine monitoring Matteo Cecchetto, Andrea Di Cesare, Ester Eckert, Giulia Fassio, Diego Fontaneto, Isabella Moro, Marco Oliverio, Katia Sciuto, Giovanni Tassistro, Luigi Vezzulli, Stefano Schiaparelli Italian National Antarctic Museum MNA, Section of Genoa , University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy; Department of Earth, Environmental and Life Science DISTAV , University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy; National Research Council of Italy, Water Research Institute CNR IRSA , Verbania Pallanza, Italy; Department of Biology and Biotechnologies Charles Darwin , Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy One of the main requirements of any sound biological monitoring is the availability of long term and, possibly, temporal data with a high resolution. This is often difficult to be achieved, especially in Antarctica, due to a variety of logistic constraints, which make continuous sampling and monitoring activities generally unfeasible. Here we focus on the 5 m filters used in the desalination plant of the Italian research base Mario Zucchelli in the Terra Nova Bay area Ross Sea, Antarctica to evaluate intra annual coastal nanoplankton dynamics. These filters, together with others of larger mesh sizes, are used to decrease the amount of organisms and debris in the input seawater before the desalination processes take place, hence automatically collect the plankton present in the water column around the desalination system intake. We have used a DNA metabarcoding approach to characterize the communities retained by filters sets collected in January 2012 and 2013. Intra annual dynamics were disclosed with an unprecedented detail, that would not have been possible by using standard sampling approaches, and highlighted the importance of extreme, stochastic events such as katabatic wind pulses, which triggered dramatic, short term shifts in coastal nanoplankton composition. This method, by combining a cost effective sampling and molecular techniques, may represent a viable solution for long term monitoring programs focusing on Antarctic coastal communities. 757 Preprint https //www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896972037340X cec 1 s2.0 S004896972037340X main.pdf Articolo in rivista Elsevier 0048 9697 Science of the total environment Science of the total environment Sci. total environ. diego.fontaneto FONTANETO DIEGO andrea.dicesare DI CESARE ANDREA estermaria.eckert ECKERT ESTER MARIA |
