8th Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium 7-9 September 2022, Ankara, Turkey, Ankara, Turkey, 7 - 09 September 2022, pp.30
The connection between Sea of Marmara biodiversity and mucilage occurrence
incidence
Arzu Karahan1, Selin Deliceırmak2, Mertcan Esti1, Evrim Kalkan Tezcan1, Esra .ztürk1, Hasan .rek1
1Middle East Technical University, Institute of Marine Sciences, 33731, Erdemli, Mersin, Turkey
2Near East University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Nicosia,
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Mucilage shapes because of the sudden death of certain bacteria and/or phytoplankton right after
their bloom. During the processes, they do not sink and decay quickly; as a result, polysaccharides are
produced, and the hydrocarbons increase in the seawater. Mucilage is also formed by the benthic
filamentous macroalgae besides the pelagic species in the water column. The mucus-like structure
negatively affects the organisms by either accumulating on the soft and hard bottom of the seabed or
by directly covering the organisms. This study aims to determine the taxa responsible for mucilage
formation in the Sea of Marmara using 16S amplicon sequencing and metabarcoding techniques (18S
and ITS) and to understand their possible effects on the Sea of Marmara ecosystem. Within this scope,
the prokaryotic (archaea and bacteria) and eukaryotic diversity in 30 mucilage samples taken from 23
stations representing a large part of the Sea of Marmara are studied using the Next Generation
Sequencing technique. In the study, the prokaryotic and eukaryotic diversity of the mucilage in the
.ınarcık Pit and Izmit Bay stations has been revealed by now. Bioinformatic analysis of the other 28
samples is ongoing. Interpreting the genetic data with the physical and chemical parameters, those
collected from the mucilage sampling stations within this study scope and the other stations representing
the whole Sea of Marmara are essential to reveal the environmental triggers that cause mucilage
formation or formation induced by mucilage.