A Shallow Water Ferrous-Hulled Shipwreck Reveals a Distinct Microbial Community

Abstract

Shipwrecks act as artificial reefs and provide a solid surface in aquatic systems for many different forms of life to attach to, especially microbial communities, making them a hotspot of biogeochemical cycling. Depending on the microbial community and surrounding environment, they may either contribute to the wreck's preservation or deterioration. Even within a single wreck, preservation and deterioration processes may vary, suggesting that the microbial community may also vary. This study aimed to identify the differences through widespread sampling of the microbial communities associated with the Pappy Lane shipwreck (NC shipwreck site #PAS0001), a shallow water ferrous-hulled shipwreck in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina to determine if there are differences across the wreck as well as from its surrounding environment. Loose shipwreck debris, drilled shipcores, surrounding sediment, and seawater samples were collected from the Pappy Lane shipwreck to characterize the microbial communities on and around the shipwreck. Results indicated that the shipwreck samples were more similar to each other than the surrounding sediment and aquatic environments suggesting they have made a specialized niche associated with the shipwreck. There were differences between the microbial community across the shipwreck, including between visibly corroded and non-corroded shipwreck debris pieces. Relative abundance estimates for neutrophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB), an organism that may contribute to deterioration through biocorrosion, revealed they are present across the shipwreck and at highest abundance on the samples containing visible corrosion products. Zetaproteobacteria, a known class of marine iron-oxidizers, were also found in higher abundance on shipwreck samples with visible corrosion. A novel Zetaproteobacteria strain, Mariprofundus ferrooxydans O1, was isolated from one of the shipwreck pieces and its genome analyzed to elucidate the functional potential of the organism. In addition to iron oxidation pathways, the isolate has the genomic potential to perform carbon fixation in both high and low oxygen environments, as well as perform nitrogen fixation, contributing to the overall biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and metals in the shipwreck ecosystem. By understanding the microbial communities associated with shallow water ferrous-hulled shipwrecks, better management strategies and preservation plans can be put into place to preserve these artificial reefs and non-renewable cultural resources.

80 years later: Marine sediments still influenced by an old war ship

“…Phycisphaerae, Verrucomicrobia and Bacteroidetes were reported by Price et al (2020) to be at a higher abundance on shipwreck samples compared to sediment. In this study, the abundance of Verrucomicrobia and Bacteroidetes are also generally higher on the shipwreck steel (Supplementary Figure S4).…”

“…As solid heterogeneous substrates, shipwrecks are rapidly colonized by microorganisms which allow other organisms to attach and form an assemblage with dynamic community interactions (Price et al, 2020). A recent study on historic (sunk >50 years ago) shipwrecks in shallow water performed by (Price et al, 2020) has shown that the hull microbiome composition differs even on the phylum level compared to the closesurrounding sediments. Another recent study, performed by Hamdan et al (2018), showed a similar result in deep water.…”

“…Where sediments are high in Deltaproteobacteria, the shipwrecks and sediments closer to the ships will show higher abundances in Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria. Several bacteria have been collected or identified from the hull of a shipwreck and marine steel fragments and proven to be involved in microbial induced corrosion (MIC) (Smith et al, 2019;Price et al, 2020). These bacteria were shown to be either members of the ironoxidising bacterial groups like Mariprofundus ferrooxydans or sulphate-reducing/sulphur-oxidising bacteria (SRB/SOB) like Desulfobulbus propionicus.…”

“…Little to no research has been done to investigate the microalgal contribution to shipwreck microbial ecology. Investigating the shipwreck's microbiome, both bacterial as well as microalgal, can give us a deeper insight into the corrosion (Price et al, 2020), the potential presence, and biodegradation of contaminants, as well as the micro biodiversity and macro biodiversity potential through biofilm-mediated settlement clues (Whalan and Webster, 2014).…”

Microbially influenced corrosion and rust tubercle formation on sheet piles in freshwater systems

“…Corrosion tubercles are often associated with MIC and microbial activities where shown to be a driving force of tubercle formation (Jin et al, 2015). Formation of tubercles have been reported from different environments but only few studies exist from natural freshwater sites (Odokuma, 2012; Phan et al, 2020; Price et al, 2020; Ray et al, 2010b). Several studies investigated the morphology and the mineral composition of these tubercles (Albahri et al, 2019; Ray et al, 2010b; Sarin et al, 2001).…”