There are a few baseline reef-systems available for understanding the microbiology of healthy coral reefs and their surrounding seawater. Here, we examined the seawater microbial ecology of 25 Northern Caribbean reefs varying in human impact and protection in Cuba and the Florida Keys, USA, by measuring nutrient concentrations, microbial abundances, and respiration rates as well as sequencing bacterial and archaeal amplicons and community functional genes. Overall, seawater microbial composition and biogeochemistry were influenced by reef location and hydrogeography. Seawater from the highly protected 'crown jewel' offshore reefs in Jardines de la Reina, Cuba had low concentrations of nutrients and organic carbon, abundant Prochlorococcus, and high microbial community alpha diversity. Seawater from the less protected system of Los Canarreos, Cuba had elevated microbial community beta-diversity whereas waters from the most impacted nearshore reefs in the Florida Keys contained high organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations and potential microbial functions characteristic of microbialized reefs. Each reef system had distinct microbial signatures and within this context, we propose that the protection and offshore nature of Jardines de la Reina may preserve the oligotrophic paradigm and the metabolic dependence of the community on primary production by picocyanobacteria.

中文翻译：

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受保护和受影响的北加勒比珊瑚礁的微生物特征：从古巴到佛罗里达群岛的变化。


有一些基线珊瑚礁系统可用于了解健康珊瑚礁及其周围海水的微生物学。在这里，我们通过测量营养物浓度、微生物丰度和呼吸速率以及对细菌和古菌扩增子和群落功能进行测序，研究了古巴和美国佛罗里达群岛的 25 个北加勒比珊瑚礁在人类影响和保护方面的差异。基因。总体而言，海水微生物组成和生物地球化学受到珊瑚礁位置和水文地理的影响。来自古巴女王花园高度保护的“皇冠上的宝石”近海珊瑚礁的海水营养物和有机碳浓度低，原绿球藻丰富，微生物群落高度多样性。来自古巴洛斯卡纳雷奥斯保护程度较低的系统的海水具有较高的微生物群落β多样性，而来自佛罗里达群岛受影响最严重的近岸珊瑚礁的海水则含有较高的有机碳和氮浓度以及微生物化珊瑚礁特有的潜在微生物功能。每个珊瑚礁系统都有独特的微生物特征，在这种背景下，我们建议王后花园的保护和近海性质可能会保留寡营养范式和群落对微微蓝细菌初级生产的代谢依赖性。