Physicochemical parameters and relative abundance of selected nutrient cycling genes were measured in sediment and pore water samples taken from a fish farming area (Site S3 16◦23.097 N, 119◦55.551 E, depth 12.6m) and a control site (Site S1 16◦22.960 N, 119◦54.723 E, depth 15m) not influenced by fish farming. From each site, five pairs of cores representing five biological replicates were collected. One core from each pair was used for physicochemical analysis while the other cores were used for microbial community analysis. Samples from S1 were collected on 2017-06-10 and samples from S3 were collected the following day. The following parameters were measured from the sediment: grain size distribution, % Carbon (%C), % Nitrogen (%N), % total organic carbon (%Corg), and stable isotope (d13C and d15N) content. The following were measured in the pore water: dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), ammonium, phosphate, and silicate. Nitrogen (bacterial ammonia monooxygenase/ amoA and nitrite reductase/ nirK) and sulfur (dissimilatory sulfate reductase/ dsrA and sulfur oxidation/ soxB) cycling genes were quantified and normalized against the abundance of the 16S rRNA gene.

Note: in the publication, S1 is referred to as the off cage site or site OC, while S3 is referred to as the fish cage site or site FC

Supplement to: Moncada, Chyrene; Hassenrück, Christiane; Gärdes, Astrid; Conaco, Cecilia (2019): Microbial community composition of sediments influenced by intensive mariculture activity. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 95(2)