Diversity and Community Dynamics of Ammonia-Oxidizing Microorganisms in Monterey Bay Aquarium Biofilters
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In aquaria, biofilters are used to prevent the accumulation of ammonia by fostering communities of nitrifying microbes, including ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Previous studies have shown that aquarium biofilters are usually dominated by AOA rather than AOB, but have not yet fully characterized the microbial communities living in those biofilters. In this study, we analyze the microbial communities within the Fluidized Bed (FB) biofilter systems at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) and investigate how those communities change over time and are influenced by the microbial community of Monterey Bay, which directly supplies seawater to the aquarium. We focus on the dynamics of nitrifier communities, AOA in particular, to investigate which microbes are most important to the biofilter’s function. Using high throughput sequencing of the archaeal and bacterial 16S rRNA gene, we investigated the microbial communities in water and sand samples for the FB systems at MBA over a 3 month period, during the establishment of a new FB. FB samples were compared to microbial communities associated with Filter 1 (F1), the biofilter treating incoming water from Monterey Bay. Further analysis of AOA abundance was conducted using quantitative PCR (qPCR). We found that the FBs had a distinct microbial community from F1 and that the microbial communities in FB sand samples were more stable over time than those in the FB water samples. When it comes to nitrifiers, the FBs were dominated by AOA and NOB, and their populations remained stable over time in sand samples. Of the AOA in the FBs, 99% came from a single operational taxonomic unit (OTU2) with close phylogenetic affiliation to AOA from Monterey Bay. Overall, this study supports previous findings about AOA dominance in aquarium biofilters, and represents the first in-depth characterization of the microbial community in a MBA biofilter.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Publication date | December 17, 2023; December 1, 2023 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Spielman, Laura |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor | Francis, Chris |
| Thesis advisor | Tolar, Bradley |
Subjects
| Subject | nitrifiers |
|---|---|
| Subject | archaea |
| Subject | aquarium biofilter |
| Subject | ammonia oxidation |
| Subject | Bacteria |
| Subject | Monterey Bay Aquarium |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Spielman, L. (2026). Diversity and Community Dynamics of Ammonia-Oxidizing Microorganisms in Monterey Bay Aquarium Biofilters. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/np613zm3277. https://doi.org/10.25740/np613zm3277.
Collection
Undergraduate Honors Theses, Doerr School of Sustainability
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- Contact
- spielmanlaura@gmail.com
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