Tidally Induced Changes in Bacterial Growth and Viability in the Macrotidal Han River Estuary, Yellow Sea

Abstract

The Han River estuary in the Yellow Sea is a macrotidal (tidal range of 3·5m at neap tide and 8·0m at spring tide) eutrophic environment. Changes in bacterial growth and viability at different NaCl concentrations as well as other physico-chemical environmental parameters were investigated at different tidal levels in order to elucidate the major environmental factors controlling the bacterial community. Bacterial growth rates (μ) varied with tidal state; maximum (μ=0·159h−1) at high tide, and minimum (μ=0·069h−1) at low tide. Although bacteria play a substantial role in ammonia removal and regeneration, growth was not controlled by the fluctuations of nutrient concentrations in the high nutrient estuary. The low viable cell number recorded with the increased NaCl concentration indicated that the salinity changes with tidal state was a major environmental factor controlling the viability of the freshwater bacterial populations. Portions of freshwater bacterial CFU (colony forming units) during low tide accounted for approximately 30% of the total CFU, and decreased down to 10% during high tide. Overall, the results indicate that the microbial communities in the macrotidal Han River estuary can be divided into two distinct groups according to the variations in salinity and freshwater runoff: (1) autochthonous halotolerant estuarine populations which are nourished by the high nutrient runoff; and (2) allochthonous halophobic freshwater populations which are adversely affected by salinity increase.