Oyster farming can lead to changes in estuarine communities leading to an increased influx of greenhouse gases, organic waste decomposition, and a decrease in oxygen in the surrounding water. Such changes can in turn influence the sediment bacterial communities which exist in close association with the oysters. In this study, we are looking at how the presence of oysters and the duration of farming affects the sediment bacterial community in two Little Bay oyster farms in NH. To that effect, sediments from underneath the oyster racks and adjacent areas without racks were collected from both farms for 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Our results indicate that there are no major changes in bacterial phyla in response to the presence of oysters. We did find some indicator species that responded to the presence/absence of oysters. Future work will explore the functional relevance of these species and its impact on estuarine health.
