ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACTS ON THE BACTERIAL PROFILE OF YARIK SINKHOLE IN ANTALYA, TURKEY

Doğruöz Güngör N., Arslan Aydoğdu E. Ö., Dirmit E., Usuloğlu E.

JOURNAL OF CAVE AND KARST STUDIES, cilt.82, sa.2, ss.116-124, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 82 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.4311/2019mb0147
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF CAVE AND KARST STUDIES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Aerospace Database, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, Aqualine, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), BIOSIS, Communication Abstracts, Geobase, Metadex, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.116-124
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Yarık Sinkhole is a vertical cave with a length of 1378 m and depth of 533 m. Its location was marked by The Anatolian

Speleology Association in 2011, and expedition entries started in 2014. Yarık Sinkhole became the 12th deepest cave

of Turkey. The aim of this study was to determine the bacterial profile of the Yarık Sinkhole using next generation metagenomic

sequencing and to investigate whether the bacterial profile of the cave is affected by the activities of people

living in this region. This study is important as the samples were collected during the first entrance of the exploration

of the cave (up to 300 m). The samples were collected from depths of −80 m, −120 m and −300 m. A total of 33 OTUs

(Operational Taxonomic Unit) contained 4 bacteria phyla. Only Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria phyla

comprised a mean abundance of more than 1% in each sample. However, 18 different species have been detected in

the Yarık Sinkhole. The most predominant species are Acinetobacter lwoffii, Methylobacterium tardum, and Propionibacterium

acnes. Although the sampling was done during the first exploration of the Yarık Sinkhole, the fact that the

majority of bacteria found in the cave are human-associated, suggest serious impacts from people living near this cave

from runoff with human and animal waste and trash.