Antimicrobial potential of the ionophore monensin on freshwater biofilm bacteria

Abstract

Microorganisms play key roles in stream ecosystems, but comparatively little is known about the resilience of freshwater bacterial communities and their susceptibility to the chemical by-products of agricultural land use. Antibiotics used in the agricultural sector are of particular concern and have been detected in waterways associated with agricultural land. Despite widespread agricultural intensification globally and the sector's high antibiotic use, the effects of agricultural antibiotic by-products on stream microbial communities have yet to be characterised. We investigated the impacts of the antibiotic monensin on microbial biofilm communities in a simulated contamination event using streamside-replicated channels. A 24-h pulse experiment in flow channels precolonised by stream biofilm microbial communities contrasted the effects of monensin concentrations ranging from realistic to extreme toxicity levels (1-550 ug L(-1)). Biofilm community composition was characterised immediately before and after the pulse for several weeks using automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis. Despite applying acutely toxic levels of monensin, only limited effects to biofilm community composition were detected immediately after antibiotic application, and these disappeared within 4 days. Rather, temporal factors drove biofilm differences, highlighting the overriding importance of wider, catchment-level, physiochemical hydrological influences on structuring freshwater biofilm communities, as opposed to localised and sporadic agricultural surface runoff contamination events containing antibiotics.