Next-generation sequencing monitoring of marine biofouling diversity

In this work we implemented a marine biofouling monitoring strategy over a period of one year in the Porto of Leixões harbor in Northern Portugal using morphological and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). A multi-marker approach, i.e. 16S rRNA 18S rRNA, 23S rRNA and COI revealed a dominance of hard-foulers organisms: specifically, barnacles and mussels and allowed for the detection of a total of 300 bacterial and of 611 eukaryote species. This biofouling monitoring program also resulted in the identification of non-indigenous species (NIS).