Geochemical factors associated with seasonal shifts in the abalone gut microbiota across urchin-barren habitats

The collapse of kelp forests into urchin barrens is associated with changes in seawater chemistry and macroalgal food availability, but how these environmental changes affect herbivore-associated microbiota remains poorly understood. Here, we analyzed the gut microbiota of abalone ( Haliotis discus hannai ) collected from mild and severe barren regions along the Korean coast during winter and summer, comparing wild abalones with those from aquaculture. Using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing together