Organic matter decay and bacterial community succession in mangroves under simulated climate change scenarios

Mangroves are coastal environments that provide resources for adjacent ecosystems due to their high productivity, organic matter decomposition, and carbon cycling by microbial communities in sediments.

Since the industrial revolution, the increase of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) released due to fossil fuel burning led to many environmental abnormalities such as an increase in average temperature and ocean acidification.

Based on the hypothesis that climate change modifies the microbial diversity associated with decaying organic matter in mangrove sediments, this study aimed to evaluate the microbial diversity under simulated climate change conditions during the litter decomposition process and the emission of GHG.

Thus, microcosms containing organic matter from the three main plant species found in mangroves throughout the State of São Paulo, Brazil ( Rhizophora mangle , Laguncularia racemosa , and Avicennia schaueriana ) were incubated simulating climate changes (increase in temperature and pH).

The decay rate was higher in the first seven days of incubation, but the differences between the simulated treatments were minor.

GHG fluxes were higher in the first ten days and higher in samples under increased temperature.

The variation in time resulted in substantial impacts on α-diversity and community composition, initially with a greater abundance of Gammaproteobacteria for all plant species despite the climate conditions variations.

The PCoA analysis reveals the chronological sequence in β-diversity, indicating the increase of Deltaproteobacteria at the end of the process.

The GHG emission varied in function of the organic matter source with an increase due to the elevated temperature, concurrent with the rise in the Deltaproteobacteria population.

Thus, these results indicate that under the expected climate change scenario for the end of the century, the decomposition rate and GHG emissions will be potentially higher, leading to a harmful feedback loop of GHG production.

This process can happen independently of an impact on the bacterial community structure due to these changes.