Environmental factors influence the seasonal characteristics of bacterial community in the sediment of Apostichopus japonicus culture ponds

Abstract:

Microbial communities are an important part of aquaculture pond ecosystems and play an important role in the processes of nutrient cycling and energy flow. It is, thus, of great importance to explore the seasonal succession characteristics of bacterial communities and factors influencing them for the precise management of sea cucumber ponds. In this study, the bacterial community composition in the sediment of Apostichopus japonicus culture ponds in different seasons were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, and the factors influencing the bacterial community were identified. The results showed that the abundance and diversity of the bacteria community in the sediment of sea cucumber culture ponds in Yingkou were highest in summer, followed by spring, autumn, and winter seasons. Significant seasonal differences were observed in the specific bacterial communities of the sediment in different seasons. Among these, Bacteroides phylum was specifically associated with spring, Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Planctomycetes were specific phyla observed in summer, Firmicutes was the specific phylum noted in autumn, and Actinobacteria was the specific phylum in winter. Although the proportion of the sediment bacterial community differed across seasons, the predominant phylum in the sediment was the Proteobacteria (relative abundance > 43.19%). The dominant environmental factors affecting the sediment bacterial community were temperature, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and pH. These findings provide a theoretical reference for microecology regulation in sea cucumber culture ponds.