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Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome / PHILIP ELLWOOD

Swansea University Author: PHILIP ELLWOOD

Abstract

Seagrass meadows are marine angiosperms critically important for carbon sequestration and fauna nursery grounds. The global decline of seagrass habitats is associated with coastal nutrient pollution.The seagrass microbiome influences plant health under changing environmental conditions. The response...

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Published: Swansea University 2026
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Master of Research
Degree name: MRes
Supervisor: Sonnenschein, E. C., and Greco, C.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71503
first_indexed 2026-02-26T11:32:09Z
last_indexed 2026-02-26T11:32:09Z
id cronfa71503
recordtype RisThesis
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spelling v2 71503 2026-02-26 Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome 0d119f14cb8a07a4a0d71f8db5e5a33e PHILIP ELLWOOD PHILIP ELLWOOD true false 2026-02-26 Seagrass meadows are marine angiosperms critically important for carbon sequestration and fauna nursery grounds. The global decline of seagrass habitats is associated with coastal nutrient pollution.The seagrass microbiome influences plant health under changing environmental conditions. The response of microbial interactions to nutrient overload are poorly understood. This study used a novel high throughput workflow to map interactions within the seagrass microbiome and evaluate the effect of nutrients on these interactions. Twelve bacterial strains isolated from seagrass seeds were used, creating pairwise co-cultures using robot-assisted colony printing. These bacterial co-cultures were grown and monitored on control and nutrient-enriched media (nitrate, phosphate, iron and copper)using automated imaging and image analysis. Use of these novel technologies both in bacterial pinning and growth monitoring, allowed detection of pronounced differences in growth with mono-cultures of Lysobacter luteus S6 reaching a colony size of 12 mm2 whereas Psychromonas arctica S11 showed minimal growth reaching 4 mm2. Across nutrient addition treatments the microbial growth and co-culture interactions showed dramatic shifts with multiple strains being inhibited while other strains developed mutualisms to combat the nutrient stress. For example, Pseudoalteromonas spiralis S5 when paired with Rhodococcus cerasti S3 in high phosphate concentrations showed 827.9 ±14.3 mm larger growth whereas Rhodococcus cerasti S3 showed the highest growth curves with Pseudoalteromonas spiralis S5 than it did with any other condition. Additionally, four fungal species were isolated and identified in this research by extraction from seagrass meadows. These including endophytes (Pyrenochaetopsis leptospora, Pseudeurotium zonatum) potentially contributing to blade health and epiphytes (Penicillium commune, Cladosporium halotolerans) linked to root-associated defence. This research demonstrates high throughput technologies can successfully be used for large scale microbial interactions cross-examinations to understand partnerships and ideal growth conditions. These could be utilised towards probiotic-based approaches to improve seagrass health, germination and resilience to anthropogenic stress. E-Thesis Swansea University Seagrass, Microbiome, Microbial ecology 3 2 2026 2026-02-03 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Sonnenschein, E. C., and Greco, C. Master of Research MRes 2026-02-26T11:32:07.4068192 2026-02-26T11:16:08.2306507 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences PHILIP ELLWOOD 1 71503__36317__883033f6f4ae411c91ae343eda63e6d7.pdf 2025_Ellwood_P.final.71503.pdf 2026-02-26T11:31:37.1933772 Output 2716288 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: the author, Philip Ellwood, 2026 true eng
title Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome
spellingShingle Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome
PHILIP ELLWOOD
title_short Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome
title_full Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome
title_fullStr Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome
title_full_unstemmed Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome
title_sort Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome
author_id_str_mv 0d119f14cb8a07a4a0d71f8db5e5a33e
author_id_fullname_str_mv 0d119f14cb8a07a4a0d71f8db5e5a33e_***_PHILIP ELLWOOD
author PHILIP ELLWOOD
author2 PHILIP ELLWOOD
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Seagrass meadows are marine angiosperms critically important for carbon sequestration and fauna nursery grounds. The global decline of seagrass habitats is associated with coastal nutrient pollution.The seagrass microbiome influences plant health under changing environmental conditions. The response of microbial interactions to nutrient overload are poorly understood. This study used a novel high throughput workflow to map interactions within the seagrass microbiome and evaluate the effect of nutrients on these interactions. Twelve bacterial strains isolated from seagrass seeds were used, creating pairwise co-cultures using robot-assisted colony printing. These bacterial co-cultures were grown and monitored on control and nutrient-enriched media (nitrate, phosphate, iron and copper)using automated imaging and image analysis. Use of these novel technologies both in bacterial pinning and growth monitoring, allowed detection of pronounced differences in growth with mono-cultures of Lysobacter luteus S6 reaching a colony size of 12 mm2 whereas Psychromonas arctica S11 showed minimal growth reaching 4 mm2. Across nutrient addition treatments the microbial growth and co-culture interactions showed dramatic shifts with multiple strains being inhibited while other strains developed mutualisms to combat the nutrient stress. For example, Pseudoalteromonas spiralis S5 when paired with Rhodococcus cerasti S3 in high phosphate concentrations showed 827.9 ±14.3 mm larger growth whereas Rhodococcus cerasti S3 showed the highest growth curves with Pseudoalteromonas spiralis S5 than it did with any other condition. Additionally, four fungal species were isolated and identified in this research by extraction from seagrass meadows. These including endophytes (Pyrenochaetopsis leptospora, Pseudeurotium zonatum) potentially contributing to blade health and epiphytes (Penicillium commune, Cladosporium halotolerans) linked to root-associated defence. This research demonstrates high throughput technologies can successfully be used for large scale microbial interactions cross-examinations to understand partnerships and ideal growth conditions. These could be utilised towards probiotic-based approaches to improve seagrass health, germination and resilience to anthropogenic stress.
published_date 2026-02-03T11:32:34Z
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score 11.098395

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