Microcosms simulation of the interactive impact of acidified seawater and oil contamination on subsurface estuarine bacterial communities Metagenome. uncultured bacterium

We analyzed the subsurface (≈5 cm) sediments, where the biogeochemical characteristics may act as a potential buffer to environmental changes and lessen the impact of acidified seawater. We hypothesize that the bacterial community here will be less prone to the effects of oil contamination in a simulated global climate change scenario of reduced seawater pH. We analyzed through a high throughput 16SrDNA gene sequencing approach to characterize, at two time points, the structure of the bacterial community in subsurface sediments exposed to the independent and interactive effect of reduced seawater pH and oil pollution in a controlled microcosm environment.