Abstract
Microorganisms are ubiquitous in aqueous environments and are crucial for biogeochemical processes, but their community structures and functions remain poorly understood. In this paper, a rotating reactor was designed to study the effects of substrata and flow conditions on sediment bacterial communities using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, assaying three groups of size-fractionated sediments and three different levels of applied shear stress. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla of the microbial communities, with more anaerobic bacteria and opportunistic pathogens being detected under static water conditions, while more aerobic bacteria were detected under dynamic water flow conditions. Most of the top 10 genera were present in all the samples; however, there were significant differences in the species abundance. Paludibacter and Comamonadaceae_unclassified were the most abundant genera under static and dynamic conditions, respectively. Under static water conditions, the medium-grained sediment had the highest microbial diversity, followed by the fine and coarse sediments. Under dynamic water flow conditions, a higher flow velocity corresponded to a greater microbial diversity. Overall, there was no significant difference in the community richness or diversity between the static and dynamic water flow conditions. This study is beneficial for further understanding the heterogeneities of microbial communities in natural aquatic ecosystems.
Highlights
Microorganisms are important components of aquatic ecosystems and are widely distributed in aqueous environments[1], but their community structures and functions remain poorly understood
The microbial diversity was analyzed under different shear stresses using size-fractionated sediment to study the effects of substrata and flow conditions on the microbial community
Under dynamic water flow conditions, a higher flow velocity corresponded to a greater microbial diversity
Summary
Microorganisms are important components of aquatic ecosystems and are widely distributed in aqueous environments[1], but their community structures and functions remain poorly understood. Microorganisms on the sediment play a significant role in biogeochemical processes such as the biodegradation of organic matter and the cycling of nutrients[4, 5], and the community structure determines their ecological and environmental functions[6,7,8]. The hydrodynamic condition is one of the most important environmental factors influencing bacterial community structure and diversity[31,32,33,34]. The microbial community is sensitive to changes in local environments, and comparing the number and types of bacteria in various environments would greatly aid attempts to assess the effects of environmental perturbations on community structures[41]. The primary objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of substrata and hydrodynamic conditions on the sediment bacterial community
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