Evaluation of Community‐Level Physiological Profiling for Monitoring Microbial Community Function in Aquaculture Ponds

Abstract

Microbial communities in aquaculture ponds play pivotal roles in pond productivity and fish production success. Nonetheless, culturists do not consider this variable in pond management decision making likely because of a lack of practical assessment tools. Therefore, we evaluated the community-level physiological profiling (CLPP) technique for characterizing microbial community function for use in aquaculture. Unfiltered water samples collected from various plastic-lined ponds over time were incubated on Biolog EcoPlates. Responses (substrate optical densities) were measured at 24-h intervals for up to 12 d to determine the best incubation interval and the number of required replicates needed for determining microbial community function in aquaculture ponds. The repeatability and withinpond variability of the CLPP metrics were also evaluated. During cooler months and in ponds with no fish and low apparent microbial activity, a 96-h incubation period was required to differentiate microbial community functional characteristics. During warmer months and when ponds were stocked with fish and had significant phytoplankton blooms, incubation periods of 72 h were sufficient. For routine monitoring, a single sample of pond water on one Biolog EcoPlate was adequate for assessing microbial community function. Multiple water samples from a single pond revealed low heterogeneity in the microbial community function. When multiple Biolog EcoPlates were inoculated with a single sample of pond water the dissimilarity of substrate responses was low (2.9%), indicating high repeatability of the CLPP technique. The CLPP method appears to be robust and allows for the assessment of functional characteristics of the heterotrophic microbial community such as relative diversity, similarity, and community functional activity. Therefore, this technique may be used by fish culturists to assess hatchery pond microbial community function, which would lead to a better understanding of the importance of the microbial community to the overall aquaculture pond ecosystem function. Such a tool would allow improved and more comprehensive management of aquaculture pond ecosystems.

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