Microbial ecology in a Patagonian fjord

Microbes are fundamental drivers of ecosystems and their activities shape the biogeochemistry of the planet. Disruption of microbial ecosystem activities may result in pathogenic shifts that affect not only the environment but also human populations, i.e., harmful algal blooms; reservoirs of antibiotic resistance (AR). In particular, the emergence of AR could be summarized as an evolutionary arms race where microbes exhibit an uncanny ability to flank every human attempt to attack infection.These water samples were collected at 5 and 20 meters depth from twelve sampling sites located in the Comau fjord in Northern Patagonia (42º S), in a region of intensive open-cage salmon aquaculture. The overarching project aims to characterize microbial communities along the Comau fjiord by using culture-independent methods and to compare their structure with the distribution of mobile genetic elements, class-1 integrons, and genetic determinants of antimicrobial resistance.