The Relationship Between Salvinia molesta Infestation and the Microbial Ecology of Wetlands at Caddo Lake, TX, USA

<p>Wetlands are known to host many beneficial geochemical processes such as nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. These processes are primarily driven by the microbial communities within a wetland. The establishment of non-native invasive species within wetlands has the potential to alter the once beneficial functionality of wetland microbial communities due to the sensitivity microbes have towards environmental changes. Because of this, several metagenomic studies have been conducted to assess microbial community response to aquatic plant invasion; however, there haven’t been any studies researching the influence of <em>Salvinia molesta </em>(D.S. Mitch.), commonly known as Giant Salvinia, on microbial communities. The goal of this study was to determine the influence of Giant Salvinia on the abiotic environment and the structure and function of the surrounding microbial community. The results of this study indicated that there were significant differences in abiotic factors, microbial community structure, and microbial community function. The Giant Salvinia invasion influenced water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen concentrations, and the nutrient concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, and orthophosphate. These changes indicated that eutrophication could be occurring and selected for microbial taxa that could survive in hypoxic conditions. This in turn altered the microbial community function in the process. This supported the original hypothesis, but additional research would be needed to determine whether Giant Salvinia promoted eutrophication, or the resulting microbial communities promoted eutrophication. This study provides a basis for further research to determine whether changes in dissolved oxygen are the mechanism used by Giant Salvinia to become established, or if there are any novel chemicals involved which aid in establishment.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science - Environmental Sciences

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Environmental Science

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Hadsell, Martin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Alexandra Van-Kley
• Dr. James Van-Kley
• Dr Carmen Montana

• Salvinia
• Caddo Lake
• Microbial Communities
• Wetlands
• Invasive species
• Environment
• microbial community function
• metagenomic
• eutrophication
• Water quality
• Bioinformatics
• Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology
• Environmental Sciences

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/579

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1626