Meiobentic community composition and diversity in the Gulf of Mexico

This study examine meiobenthic (meiofauna and other micro-eukaryotes) community composition and diversity along the United States continental shelf from Texas through Florida as well as couple of deep sea sediment samples near the proximity of the DeepWater Horizon platform during 2010 and/or 2011. To examine the community composition and diversity, sediment samples were taken from a number of locations, DNA was extracted directly from the sediment sample, and Illumina high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the eukaryotic hypervariable V9 region of the 18S rRNA gene was conducted. The objectives of this project were to (1) examine potential temporal variation in meiobenthic community composition, (2) determine whether if any operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were present in every sample and/or every geographical region, and (3) explore how depth played a role in meiobenthic composition and diversity.