Long-term effects of ocean warming on the prokaryotic community: evidence from the vibrios

TitleLong-term effects of ocean warming on the prokaryotic community: evidence from the vibrios
Publication TypeJournal Articles
Year of Publication2011
AuthorsVezzulli L, Brettar I, Pezzati E, Reid PC, Colwell RR, Höfle MG, Pruzzo C
JournalThe ISME JournalThe ISME journal
Volume6
Type of Article10.1038/ismej.2011.89
ISBN Number1751-7362
Keywordsecophysiology, ecosystems, environmental biotechnology, geomicrobiology, ISME J, microbe interactions, microbial communities, microbial ecology, microbial engineering, microbial epidemiology, microbial genomics, microorganisms
Abstract

The long-term effects of ocean warming on prokaryotic communities are unknown because of lack of historical data. We overcame this gap by applying a retrospective molecular analysis to the bacterial community on formalin-fixed samples from the historical Continuous Plankton Recorder archive, which is one of the longest and most geographically extensive collections of marine biological samples in the world. We showed that during the last half century, ubiquitous marine bacteria of the Vibrio genus, including Vibrio cholerae, increased in dominance within the plankton-associated bacterial community of the North Sea, where an unprecedented increase in bathing infections related to these bacteria was recently reported. Among environmental variables, increased sea surface temperature explained 45% of the variance in Vibrio data, supporting the view that ocean warming is favouring the spread of vibrios and may be the cause of the globally increasing trend in their associated diseases.