Characterization of Chandeleur Island, Louisiana, Salt Marsh Microbial Communities: A 6 year post-Deepwater Horizon Impact Study, May 2016-February 2017

As oil was deposited differentially within Chandeleur Island salt marshes, it was important to investigate the microbiology of oil-impacted areas as marsh vegetation is directly linked to microbe-driven ecosystem services such as denitrification, a nitrogen (N) cycle pathway. Genomic DNA was extracted from the top 0-7cm of sediment cores at six time points (May 2016, June 2016, September 2016, October 2016, November 2016, February 2017) from three salt marsh locales within the Chandeleur Islands. Microbial community abundance and biodiversity were characterized with 16S rRNA using Illumina MiSeq 2x 300 bp technology for 17 samples.