Tagus River bacterial microbiota found in Prainha do Braco de Prata Metagenome

Representing local ecosystems may bridge the gap between people and their surrounding naturalenvironment, increasing the understanding by non-experts of ecological services. This preliminary studyleverages the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to simplify the visualization and communication of thesephenomena to non-experts. Here we generated a tentative Tagus River microbiota and then used ChatGPTto generate ecological services and functions derived from the microbiota produced by nanopore sequencing on samples collected in Prainha de Braco de Prata. The most abundant genera found were Candidatus Pelagibacter, Egibacter, and Ralstonia. For the combined microbiota the most relevant ecological services were organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, and biofilm formation. We concluded that the ChatGPT may provide a useful tool to represent the Tagus River microbiota, elucidate the ecological services and provide a guidance for the design of better objects and services to respect and value the water bodies such as the Tagus River estuary. Crossing the disciplines of design and biology, this experiment contributes towards an interface between humans and other-than-humans, by representing ecosystems like the estuary of Tejo.