ORCID
0000-0002-5627-5412 (Kleinglass)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
DOI
10.1111/mec.70201
Publication Title
Molecular Ecology
Volume
34
Issue
24
Pages
e70201
Abstract
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) supplies large quantities of nutrients and other terrestrial elements to coastal ecosystems, impacting marine biota and ecosystem functioning. Despite the relevance of prokaryotes for marine biogeochemistry, little is known about their responses to groundwater inputs. Here we explored the impact of SGD on the spatiotemporal patterns of prokaryotic communities from the Mar Menor (Murcia, Spain), a highly anthropized hypersaline coastal lagoon that receives large amounts of nutrient-polluted SGD. Using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, activity assays, and flow cytometry, we investigated the dynamics of prokaryotic communities across the lagoon and its connected environments (freshwater streams, groundwater, soils, the sea) on two occasions. We found that the lagoon areas most influenced by SGD (i.e., sites closest to the shore) presented on average three-fold higher heterotrophic prokaryotic protein production than the inner lagoon samples, and 2.7-fold higher taxonomic richness. This spatial pattern was likely influenced by solutes supplied by SGD, as higher concentrations of dissolved nitrogen, silicate and SGD tracers (radium [Ra] isotopes) were found in nearshore waters. Increases in these elements also influenced the relative abundance of dominant bacterial groups (e.g., Flavobacteriales, Rhodobacterales). In autumn, increases in lagoon ²²⁴Ra were strongly linked to higher taxonomic richness in microbial assemblages and the influx of allochthonous taxa from the catchment, pointing to seasonally variable transport of coastal groundwater microorganisms via SGD. Our study highlights SGD as an overlooked driver of prokaryotic dynamics in coastal ecosystems, and suggests that changes in this process may significantly impact microbial community structure and functioning.
Rights
© 2025 The Authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Data Availability
Article states: "Raw sequence reads are deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) under accession number PRJEB65945. The environmental metadata and the nonrarefied ASV and taxonomic tables are provided as Tables S3–S5. The complete environmental dataset can be downloaded at https://zenodo.org/records/17045205. The benefits of this research come from sharing our data and results with the wider scientific community through publicly accessible databases and publications."
Original Publication Citation
Romano‐Gude, D., Dordal‐Soriano, J., Rodriguez‐Puig, J., Bravo, A. G., Alorda‐Montiel, I., Alorda‐Kleinglass, A., Diego‐Feliu, M., Romera‐Castillo, C., Mallenco‐Fornies, R., Gilabert, J., Garcia‐Orellana, J., Rodellas, V., & Ruiz‐González, C. (2025). Impact of submarine groundwater discharge on microbial communities in a highly anthropized coastal lagoon (Mar Menor, SE Spain). Molecular Ecology, 34(24), Article e70201. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70201
Repository Citation
Romano-Gude, Daniel; Dordal-Soriano, Júlia; Rodriguez-Puig, Júlia; Bravo, Andrea G.; Alorda-Montiel, Irene; Alorda-Kleinglass, Aaron; Diego-Feliu, Marc; Romera-Castillo, Cristina; Mallenco-Fornies, Rebeca; Gilabert, Javier; Garcia-Orellana, Jordi; Rodellas, Valentí; and Ruiz-González, Clara, "Impact of Submarine Groundwater Discharge on Microbial Communities in a Highly Anthropized Coastal Lagoon (Mar Menor, SE Spain)" (2025). OES Faculty Publications. 564.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs/564
Supporting Information
Included in
Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons, Hydrology Commons, Oceanography Commons