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Understanding the rapid responses of marine microbiomes to environmental disturbances is paramount for supporting early assessments of harm to high-value ecosystems, such as coral reefs. Yet, management guidelines aimed at protecting aquatic life from environmental pollution remain exclusively defined for organisms at higher trophic levels. In this study, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was applied in conjunction with propidium monoazide for cell-viability assessment as a sensitive tool to determine taxon- and community-level changes in a seawater microbial community under copper (Cu) exposure. Bayesian model averaging was used to establish concentration-response relationships to evaluate the effects of copper on microbial composition, diversity, and richness for the purpose of estimating microbiome Hazard Concentration (mHCx) values. Predicted mHC5 values at which a 5 % change in …