Abstract
The aquatic microbiota is known to be an important factor in the sustainability of the natural water ecosystems. However, the microbial community also might include pathogens, which result in very serious waterborne diseases in humans and animals. Faecal pollution is the major cause of these diseases. Therefore, it is of immense importance to assess the potential impact of faecal pollution, originating from both anthropogenic and zoogenic sources, on the profile of microbial communities in natural water environments. To this end, the microbial taxonomic diversity of lotic ecosystems in different regions of Norway, representing urban and rural areas, exposed to various levels of faecal pollution, was investigated over the course of a 1-year period. The highest microbial diversity was found in rural water that was the least faecally polluted, while the lowest was found in urban water with the highest faecal contamination. The overall diversity of the aquatic microbial community was significantly reduced in severely polluted water. In addition, the community compositions diverged between waters where the dominant pollution sources were of anthropogenic or zoogenic origin. The results provide new insight into the understanding of how faecal water contamination, specifically that of different origins, influences the microbial diversity of natural waters.
Highlights
The aquatic microbiota is known to be an important factor in the sustainability of the natural water ecosystems
The origin was expressed as the percentage contribution profile of host-specific Bacteroidales 16S rRNA genetic markers (AllBac, BacH, BacR and Hor-Bac) in the measured faecal contamination
These particular outcomes will not be addressed as they have been described in greater detail elsewhere
Summary
The aquatic microbiota is known to be an important factor in the sustainability of the natural water ecosystems. The aquatic microbiota contributes substantially to the sustainability (in terms of balanced physical, chemical and biological conditions, harmonised biodiversity and long-term functionality) of the natural (organic by nature) water ecosystems, playing key roles in organic and inorganic nutrient cycling, respiration, and biological and chemical contaminant removal in aquatic environments[6] It can pose a negative impact by carrying pathogens, which result in very serious waterborne diseases in both humans and animals[1,3]. Faecal water contamination refers to a dual origin (anthropogenic and zoogenic) of various point and nonpoint/diffuse pollution sources (comprising discharge of industrial/municipal/domestic wastewater and storm/ urban/agricultural water runoffs) It is normally determined by the detection and quantitation of viable bacterial www.nature.com/scientificreports indicators, so-called faecal indicator bacteria (FIB), represented primarily by Escherichia coli (E. coli) and certain Enterococcus species such as E. faecalis and E. faecium[7]. These new approaches using 16S rRNA and NGS provide significant insight into specific microbial taxonomic characterisation that otherwise is not apparent by traditional microbiological methods[22,25]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
