Overview
- Researchers from the University of Haifa and the Hebrew University mapped reef-adjacent microbes in the Gulf of Aqaba using 24-hour sampling every six hours across seasons, publishing the results in Science Advances.
- Counts fell for phytoplankton and bacteria at dusk while heterotrophic protists surged at night, with protist numbers rising by up to about 80 percent around sundown.
- Compared with nearby open waters, reef samples held fewer bacteria and microalgae, including roughly 75 percent fewer microalgae, alongside pockets of reef-favored taxa such as Alteromonadaceae.
- Genomic rRNA profiling and flow cytometry revealed microbial taxa typically found inside corals present in surrounding water, raising questions about symbiont exchange and maintenance.
- The team proposes that routine microbial monitoring of reef waters could provide sensitive, early indications of ecosystem change as managers assess reef function and stressors.