12:00noon Monday 30th September
Room 208, 2nd floor,
Microbiology building,
720 Cumberland Street
‘Analysis of historic microbial communities using metagenetics provides evidence for the timing, causes and effects of cyanobacterial blooms’
The occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms is increasing globally in response to anthropogenic eutrophication, invasive species and climate change. In the present study we used a paleolimnological approach to investigate the timing, causes and effects of cyanobacterial blooms in several shallow New Zealand lakes. DNA was extracted from sediment cores dating back approximately 1000-years. This was analysed using bacterial 16S rRNA metabarcoding (and cyanobacterial-specific quantitative PCR assays. Community-scale shifts in bacterial metabolic function were determined through analysis of the metabarcoding data with the software PAPRICA. These studies are part of a larger nationwide project called ‘Lakes380—Our Lakes’ Health: past, present, future’ that aims to collect and analyse sediments cores and water samples from 10% of New Zealand’s 3,800 lakes
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