Effects of salmon farming on the benthic ecosystem of coastal shallow- and deep-water sites: towards a DNA-based environmental impact assessment

水产养殖是全世界增长最快的食品生产部门之一，大西洋鲑鱼（萨尔莫salar）是最重要的海洋水产养殖物种之一。这一行业的快速增长带来了巨大的社会经济效益，但同时也带来了越来越大的环境影响。在DFG项目的第一个资助期内，我可以证明，微生物底栖群落的DNA元条形码与监督机器学习（SML）相结合是一种非常强大的方法，可以（a）评估通过水产养殖影响底栖沿海生态系统的压力因素，（B）量化鲑鱼养殖影响下的沿海生态系统的环境质量。所获得的结果表明，这种技术可能在未来取代更昂贵，冗长，容易出错和繁琐的传统生物监测的基础上，作为生物指示剂的底栖大型无脊椎动物的显微镜识别。然而，项目（标志已删除）也表明，在现阶段，关于水产养殖压力对底栖沿海生态系统的影响的重要基本生态知识仍然缺乏。拟议的延续项目的目的是填补这一知识空白，使新技术能够在例行环境监测方案中实施。具体而言，拟议的项目旨在调查海底微生物群落对鲑鱼养殖对沿海生态系统施加的不同程度压力的时空反应。拟议的后续项目应澄清底栖微生物群落的哪些变化是由于自然季节性演替模式造成的，哪些是由水产养殖压力因素具体造成的。（符号删除）的结果表明，在较浅的沿海沃茨，自然季节的影响可能是一个显着更强的辅助因素结构底栖生物群落水产养殖压力下比在沿海深水沃茨。这一基础生态研究的预期结果对于确定世界各地浅水和深水水产养殖场的特定DNA生物指标具有高度相关性。因此，将在两个沿海系统中进行比较研究。在随后的DFG知识转移项目中，这些新发现可以进行测试，目的是在官方法规中实施DNA元条形码/SML技术，以监测受水产养殖影响的沿海沃茨的生态。这种科学概念和方法将广泛适用，包括近海钻井、海底采矿、近海风力发电场、底拖网捕捞和沿海沃茨各种其他类型的工业和娱乐活动的环境影响评估。

Aquaculture is among the fastest growing food production sectors worldwide, with Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) being among the most important marine aquaculture species. The rapid annual growth of this industry has yielded in significant socio-economic benefits but is accompanied by increasing environmental impact. In the first funding period of DFG project (sign removed) I could show that DNA metabarcoding of microbial benthic communities in combination with supervised machine learning (SML) is a very powerful method to (a) assess stress factors affecting benthic coastal ecosystems through aquaculture and (b) to quantify the environmental quality of coastal ecosystems under the influence of salmon farming. The obtained results suggested that this technology may in the future replace the much more expensive, lengthy, error-prone and tedious traditional biomonitoring based on the microscopic identification of benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. However, project (sign removed) has also shown what crucial basic ecological knowledge about the impact of aquaculture stressors on benthic coastal ecosystems is still missing at this stage. The aim of the proposed continuation project is to fill this knowledge gap to the extent that the new technology can be implemented in routine environmental monitoring programmes. Specifically, the proposed project aims to investigate the spatial and temporal response of benthic microbial communities to different levels of stress exerted on coastal ecosystems by salmon farming. The proposed follow-up project should clarify which changes in benthic microbial communities are due to natural seasonal succession patterns and which are specifically caused by aquaculture stressors. Results from (sign removed) suggest that in shallower coastal waters natural seasonal influences may be a significantly stronger co-factor for structuring benthic communities under aquaculture stress than in deep coastal waters. The expected findings from this basic ecological research are of high relevance for the identification of specific DNA bioindicators in shallow- and deep-water aquaculture sites worldwide. Therefore, comparative studies will be carried out in both coastal systems. In a subsequent DFG knowledge transfer project, these new findings could then be tested with the aim of implementing the DNA metabarcoding/SML technology in official regulations for the ecological monitoring of coastal waters under the influence of aquaculture. Such a scientific concept and methodological approach will be widely applicable, including environmental impact assessments of offshore drilling, seabed mining, offshore wind farms, bottom trawling and various other types of industrial and recreational activities in coastal waters.