Primary role of increasing urea-N concentration in a novel Microcystis densa bloom: Evidence from ten years of field investigations and laboratory experiments

Abstract

A novel Microcystis bloom caused by Microcystis densa has occurred in a typical subtropical reservoir every spring and summer since 2012, and it has caused several ecological and economic losses. To determine the environmental factors that influence the growth and physiological characteristics of M. densa, we investigated the variations in physicochemical factors and M. densa cell density from 2007 to 2017. The results showed that the urea-N concentration increased significantly (from 0.02 ± 0.00–0.20 ± 0.01 mg N l−1), whereas other factors did not vary significantly. NO3−-N and urea-N concentrations were higher than the NH4+-N concentration during the M. densa bloom. The nitrogen composition changed, and urea-N and NO3−-N became a major nitrogen sources in the reservoir. Water temperature and increased urea-N concentrations were the primary factors that influenced variations in M. densa cell density (45.5%, p < 0.05). Laboratory experiments demonstrated that M. densa cultured with urea-N exhibited a higher maximum cell density (9.8 ± 0.5 × 108 cells l−1), more cellular pigments for photosynthesis (chlorophyll a and phycocyanin) and photoprotection (carotenoid), and more proteins than those cultured with NH4+-N and NO3−-N. These results suggested that M. densa cultured with urea-N exhibited preferable growth and physiological conditions. Moreover, M. densa exhibited an increased maximum specific uptake rate (0.93 pg N cell−1 h−1) and reduced half-saturation constant (0.03 mg N l−1) for urea-N compared with NH4+-N and NO3−-N, suggesting that M. densa preferred urea-N as its major nitrogen source. These results collectively indicated that the increasing urea-N concentration was beneficial for the growth and physiological conditions of M. densa. This study provided ten years of field data and detailed physiological information supporting the critical effect of urea-N on the growth of a novel bloom species M. densa. These findings helped to reveal the mechanism of M. densa bloom formation from the perspective of dissolved organic nitrogen.