Bacterioplankton Community Structure Research Articles

Structure and composition of microbial communities in the water column from Southern Gulf of Mexico and detection of putative hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms.

This study assessed the bacterioplankton community and its relationship with environmental variables, including total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration, in the Yucatan shelf area of the Southern Gulf of Mexico. Beta diversity analyses based on 16S rRNA sequences indicated variations in the bacterioplankton community structure among sampling sites. PERMANOVA indicated that these variations could be mainly related to changes in depth (5 to 180 m), dissolved oxygen concentration (2.06 to 5.93 mg L-1), and chlorophyll-a concentration (0.184 to 7.65 mg m3). Moreover, SIMPER and one-way ANOVA analyses showed that the shifts in the relative abundances of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus were related to changes in microbial community composition and chlorophyll-a values. Despite the low TPH content measured in the studied sites (0.01 to 0.86 μL L-1), putative hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria such as Alteromonas, Acinetobacter, Balneola, Erythrobacter, Oleibacter, Roseibacillus, and the MWH-UniP1 aquatic group were detected. The relatively high copy number of the alkB gene detected in the water column by qPCR and the enrichment of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria obtained during lab crude oil tests exhibited the potential of bacterioplankton communities from the Yucatan shelf to respond to potential hydrocarbon impacts in this important area of the Gulf Mexico.

An abrupt regime shift of bacterioplankton community from weak to strong thermal pollution in a subtropical bay.

Thermal pollution from the cooling system of the nuclear power plants greatly changes the environmental and the ecological conditions of the receiving marine water body, but we know little about their impact on the steady-state transition of marine bacterioplankton communities. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing based on the 16S rRNA gene to investigate the impact of the thermal pollution on the bacterioplankton communities in a subtropical bay (the Daya Bay). We observed that thermal pollution from the cooling system of the nuclear power plant caused a pronounced thermal gradient ranging from 19.6°C to 24.12°C over the whole Daya Bay. A temperature difference of 4.5°C between the northern and southern parts of the bay led to a regime shift in the bacterioplankton community structure. In the three typical scenarios of regime shifts, the steady-state transition of bacterioplankton community structure in response to temperature increasing was more likely consistent with an abrupt regime shift rather than a smooth regime or a discontinuous regime model. Water temperature was a decisive factor on the regime shift of bacterioplankton community structure. High temperature significantly decreased bacterioplankton diversity and shifted its community compositions. Cyanobium and Synechococcus of Cyanobacteria, NS5 marine group of Bacteroidota, and Vibrio of Gammaproteobacteria were found that favored high temperature environments. Furthermore, the increased water temperature significantly altered the community assembly of bacterioplankton in Daya Bay, with a substantial decrease in the proportion of drift and others, and a marked increase in the proportion of homogeneous selection. In summary, we proposed that seawater temperature increasing induced by the thermal pollution resulted in an abrupt regime shift of bacterioplankton community in winter subtropical bay. Our research might broad our understanding of marine microbial ecology under future conditions of global warming.

Spatial and diel variations of bacterioplankton and pico-nanoeukaryote communities and potential biotic interactions during macroalgal blooms

We investigated spatial heterogeneity and diel variations in bacterioplankton and pico-nanoeukaryote communities, and potential biotic interactions at the extinction stage of the Ulva prolifera bloom in the Jiaozhou Bay, Yellow Sea. It was found that the presence of Ulva canopies significantly promoted the cell abundance of heterotrophic bacteria, raised evenness, and altered the community structure of bacterioplankton. A diel pattern was solely significant for pico-nanoeukaryote community structure. >50 % of variation in the heterotrophic bacterial abundance was accounted for by the ratio of Bacteroidota to Firmicutes, and dissolved organic nitrogen effectively explained the variations in cell abundances of phytoplankton populations. The factors representing biotic interactions frequently contributed substantially more than environmental factors in explaining the variations in diversity and community structure of both bacterioplankton and pico-nanoeukaryotes. There were higher proportions of eukaryotic pathogens compared to other marine systems, suggesting a higher ecological risk associated with the Ulva blooms.

Temporal patterns of bacterial communities in the Billings Reservoir system

In this study, high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons and predictive PICRUSt functional profiles were used to perform a comprehensive analysis of the temporal bacterial distribution and metabolic functions of 19 bimonthly samples collected from July 2019 to January 2020 in the surface water of Billings Reservoir, São Paulo. The results revealed that most of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences belonged to Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria, which accounted for more than 58% of the total bacterial abundance. Species richness and evenness indices were highest in surface water from summer samples (January 2020), followed by winter (July 2019) and spring samples (September and November 2019). Results also showed that the highest concentrations of sulfate (SO4–2), phosphate (P), ammonia (NH3), and nitrate (NO3-) were detected in November 2019 and January 2020 compared with samples collected in July and September 2019 (P < 0.05). Principal component analysis suggests that physicochemical factors such as pH, DO, temperature, and NH3 are the most important environmental factors influencing spatial and temporal variations in the community structure of bacterioplankton. At the genus level, 18.3% and 9.9% of OTUs in the July and September 2019 samples, respectively, were assigned to Planktothrix, while 14.4% and 20% of OTUs in the November 2019 and January 2020 samples, respectively, were assigned to Microcystis. In addition, PICRUSt metabolic analysis revealed increasing enrichment of genes in surface water associated with multiple metabolic processes rather than a single regulatory mechanism. This is the first study to examine the temporal dynamics of bacterioplankton and its function in Billings Reservoir during the winter, spring, and summer seasons. The study provides comprehensive reference information on the effects of an artificial habitat on the bacterioplankton community that can be used to interpret the results of studies to evaluate and set appropriate treatment targets.

Variation in Structure and Functional Diversity of Surface Bacterioplankton Communities in the Eastern East China Sea

Bacterioplankton communities are critical components of varied ecosystems in the oceans. Their occurrences represent a variety of connections between environmental and ecological elements. However, our current knowledge about the shaping factors of surface bacterioplankton communities in the eastern East China Sea (ECS) is still limited. In this study, we reveal the spatial patterns of the taxonomic and functional profiles of the surface bacterioplankton communitiesies in the nearshore and offshore areas in the eastern ECS, based on 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing and functional annotation analysis. The obtained results show that the surface bacterioplankton communities in the nearshore areas are mainly dominated by the firmicutes (85.9%), actinobacteria (8.1%), and proteobacteria (5.4%), which are mainly involved in organic compound metabolism. Meanwhile, different bacteria predominate the composition of the offshore group, namely proteobacteria (71.1%) and bacteroidetes (22.0%) responsible for nitrogen and sulfur metabolism. Furthermore, their distribution pattern is shown to be spatially determined, along with a modest finding of functional diversity when comparing the bacterial species. The primary two shaping factors of bacterioplankton diversity are found to be the offshore distance and temperature. Overall, these findings add to those previously published on bacterial species and offer up functional information on the surface bacterioplankton communities in the eastern ECS. To extend our research, we propose that, in the future, it may be beneficial to monitor the dynamics of the ecosystem in this sea area.

Cascade dams altered taxonomic and functional composition of bacterioplankton community at the regional scale.

Dams are increasingly disrupting natural river systems, yet studies investigating their impact on microbial communities at regional scale are limited. Given the indispensable role of bacterioplankton in aquatic ecosystems, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to explore how these communities respond to dam-influenced environmental changes at the regional scale in the Shaying River Basin. Our findings revealed that cascade dams create distinct environments, shaping bacterioplankton communities near the dams differently from those in natural rivers. In the upstream of the cascade dams, water quality was superior, while bacterioplankton community structure was simple with weak community interactions. In the midstream, nutrient and heavy metal content were increased, making bacterioplankton structures more susceptible to environmental changes. In the downstream of the cascade dams, water quality had a significant impact on the community and the bacterioplankton structures were highly complex. Additionally, environmental variables significantly influenced bacterioplankton functional groups. However, the response to these factors, as well as the interplay between functional and taxonomic diversity, varied markedly depending on the specific region of the cascade dams. We here delved into the effects of cascade dams on the taxonomic diversity and functional groups of bacterioplankton to provide a theoretical basis for segmentally regulating these dams.

Influence of phycospheric bacterioplankton disruption or removal on algae growth and survival

Phycospheric bacteria play a crucial role in the survival of microalgae. However, the potential of using the growth regulation and community structure modulation of phycospheric bacteria to prevent the occurrence of blooms is yet to be verified. The phycospheric bacterioplankton of Cyclotella sp. can be categorized into HNA (high nucleic acid) bacteria and LNA (low nucleic acid) bacteria. 16S rRNA sequencing showed that the HNA bacteria exhibited higher α-diversity compared to the LNA bacteria, and the microbial community composition also exhibited variations. Metagenomic sequencing further indicated the distinct ecological functions between HNA and LNA bacteria. Furthermore, the study showcased the restorative capacity of the phycospheric bacterioplankton. Biomass analysis revealed that the recovery of phycospheric bacterioplankton positively influenced the microalgae growth, thus affirming the significance of phycospheric bacterioplankton to microalgae. The community structure of phycospheric bacterioplankton demonstrated a notable decrease in the abundance of restored LNA core bacteria. Additionally, the restored phycospheric bacterioplankton exhibited a more complex co-occurrence network structure, resulting in decreased resistance and sensitivity of microalgae to adverse environments. The presence of phycospheric bacterioplankton provides a protective shield for microalgae, and thus destabilizing or removing phycospheric bacterioplankton may effectively inhibit growth of microalgae.

Seasonal development of a tidal mixing front drives shifts in community structure and diversity of bacterioplankton.

Bacterioplankton underpin biogeochemical cycles and an improved understanding of the patterns and drivers of variability in their distribution is needed to determine their wider functioning and importance. Sharp environmental gradients and dispersal barriers associated with ocean fronts are emerging as key determinants of bacterioplankton biodiversity patterns. We examined how the development of the Celtic Sea Front (CF), a tidal mixing front on the Northwest European Shelf affects bacterioplankton communities. We performed 16S-rRNA metabarcoding on 60 seawater samples collected from three depths (surface, 20 m and seafloor), across two research cruises (May and September 2018), encompassing the intra-annual range of the CF intensity. Communities above the thermocline of stratified frontal waters were clearly differentiated and less diverse than those below the thermocline and communities in the well-mixed waters of the Irish Sea. This effect was much more pronounced in September, when the CF was at its peak intensity. The stratified zone likely represents a stressful environment for bacterioplankton due to a combination of high temperatures and low nutrients, which fewer taxa can tolerate. Much of the observed variation was driven by Synechococcus spp. (cyanobacteria), which were more abundant within the stratified zone and are known to thrive in warm oligotrophic waters. Synechococcus spp. are key contributors to global primary productivity and carbon cycling and, as such, variability driven by the CF is likely to influence regional biogeochemical processes. However, further studies are required to explicitly link shifts in community structure to function and quantify their wider importance to pelagic ecosystems.

Shifts in bacterioplankton community structure between dry and wet seasons in a tropical estuary strongly affected by riverine discharge

Estuaries are among the most productive ecosystems in the world and are highly dynamic due to the interaction of freshwater and seawater, which results in strong spatial gradients in physico-chemical conditions. Bacterioplankton play a central role in these systems, driving the fluxes of carbon and energy, and being central for contaminant removal in human-impacted areas. Most studies on bacterioplankton dynamics have been carried out in temperate estuaries, and they show that salinity is a major factor driving bacterioplankton distribution. Tropical estuaries, although largely understudied, experience drastic variations in river discharge between the dry and the rainy seasons, influencing the spatial distribution of the salinity gradient and thus likely impacting bacterioplankton communities. Using Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, here we studied bacterial communities from the Nicoya's Gulf (Costa Rica), a large tropical estuary characterized by high riverine discharge during the rainy season, to explore seasonal changes in the spatial distribution and connectivity of these communities along the Gulf. Our results show pronounced differences in bacterial diversity and community structure between seasons and zones within the estuary (the shallow upper Gulf, the middle zone and the lower zone, located in the marine end of the estuary). Bacterial communities from the different regions were more similar during the rainy season, suggesting a larger degree of microbial connectivity likely driven by the fast water circulation fueled by the riverine discharge. In the dry season, Enterobacteriales and Cyanobacteria dominated bacterial communities, whereas in the rainy season Alphaproteobacteria was the dominant group. These contrasting seasonal trends were consistent with the seasonal variations observed in bacterial assemblages during a year at a single station in the upper region of the Gulf. We conclude that the Gulf is highly dynamic in both the spatial and temporal scale and that bacterioplankton communities are strongly influenced by the riverine and tidal inputs during both seasons. This study sheds light on the sources of variability in the structure of bacterial communities in tropical estuarine systems, an understudied type of aquatic ecosystem, and sets the basis to design further comprehensive studies on their microbial diversity.

Bacterioplankton Communities in Dissolved Organic Carbon-Rich Amazonian Black Water.

The Amazon River basin sustains dramatic hydrochemical gradients defined by three water types: white, clear, and black waters. In black water, important loads of allochthonous humic dissolved organic matter (DOM) result from the bacterioplankton degradation of plant lignin. However, the bacterial taxa involved in this process remain unknown, since Amazonian bacterioplankton has been poorly studied. Its characterization could lead to a better understanding of the carbon cycle in one of the Earth's most productive hydrological systems. Our study characterized the taxonomic structure and functions of Amazonian bacterioplankton to better understand the interplay between this community and humic DOM. We conducted a field sampling campaign comprising 15 sites distributed across the three main Amazonian water types (representing a gradient of humic DOM), and a 16S rRNA metabarcoding analysis based on bacterioplankton DNA and RNA extracts. Bacterioplankton functions were inferred using 16S rRNA data in combination with a tailored functional database from 90 Amazonian basin shotgun metagenomes from the literature. We discovered that the relative abundances of fluorescent DOM fractions (humic-, fulvic-, and protein-like) were major drivers of bacterioplankton structure. We identified 36 genera for which the relative abundance was significantly correlated with humic DOM. The strongest correlations were found in the Polynucleobacter, Methylobacterium, and Acinetobacter genera, three low abundant but omnipresent taxa that possessed several genes involved in the main steps of the β-aryl ether enzymatic degradation pathway of diaryl humic DOM residues. Overall, this study identified key taxa with DOM degradation genomic potential, the involvement of which in allochthonous Amazonian carbon transformation and sequestration merits further investigation. IMPORTANCE The Amazon basin discharge carries an important load of terrestrially derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) to the ocean. The bacterioplankton from this basin potentially plays important roles in transforming this allochthonous carbon, which has consequences on marine primary productivity and global carbon sequestration. However, the structure and function of Amazonian bacterioplanktonic communities remain poorly studied, and their interactions with DOM are unresolved. In this study, we (i) sampled bacterioplankton in all the main Amazon tributaries, (ii) combined information from the taxonomic structure and functional repertory of Amazonian bacterioplankton communities to understand their dynamics, (iii) identified the main physicochemical parameters shaping bacterioplanktonic communities among a set of >30 measured environmental parameters, and (iv) characterized how bacterioplankton structure varies according to the relative abundance of humic compounds, a by-product from the bacterial degradation process of allochthonous DOM.

Exploring the plankton bacteria diversity and distribution patterns in the surface water of northwest pacific ocean by metagenomic methods

The study of marine microbial communities is crucial for comprehending the distribution patterns, adaptations to the environment, and the functioning of marine microorganisms. Despite being one of the largest biomes on Earth, the bacterioplankton communities in the Northwest Pacific Ocean (NWPO) remain understudied. In this research, we aimed to investigate the structure of the surface bacterioplankton communities in different water masses of the NWPO. We utilized metagenomic sequencing techniques and cited previous 16S rRNA data to explore the distribution patterns of bacterioplankton in different seasons. Our results revealed that Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria dominated the microbial communities, accounting for over 95% of the total. During spring, we observed significant differentiation in community structure between the different water masses. For instance, Prochlorococcus and Pseudoalteromonas were primarily distributed in the nutrient-deficient subtropical countercurrent zone, while Flavobacteriaceae and Rhodobacteraceae were found in the Kuroshio-Oyashio mixing zone. During summer, the surface planktonic bacteria communities became homogenized across regions, with Cyanobacteria becoming the dominant group (68.6% to 84.9% relative abundance). The metabolic processes of the microorganisms were dominated by carbohydrate metabolism, followed by amino acid transport and metabolism. However, there was a low relative abundance of functional genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism in the Kuroshio-Oyashio mixing zone. The metagenomic data had assembled 37 metagenomic-assembled genomes (MAGs), which belong to Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Euryarchaeota. In conclusion, our findings highlight the diversity of the surface bacterioplankton community composition in the NWPO, and its distinct geographic distribution characteristics and seasonal variations.

Surface Bacterioplankton Community Structure Crossing the Antarctic Circumpolar Current Fronts.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the major current in the Southern Ocean, isolating the warm stratified subtropical waters from the more homogeneous cold polar waters. The ACC flows from west to east around Antarctica and generates an overturning circulation by fostering deep-cold water upwelling and the formation of new water masses, thus affecting the Earth's heat balance and the global distribution of carbon. The ACC is characterized by several water mass boundaries or fronts, known as the Subtropical Front (STF), Subantarctic Front (SAF), Polar Front (PF), and South Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front (SACCF), identified by typical physical and chemical properties. While the physical characteristics of these fronts have been characterized, there is still poor information regarding the microbial diversity of this area. Here we present the surface water bacterioplankton community structure based on 16S rRNA sequencing from 13 stations sampled in 2017 between New Zealand to the Ross Sea crossing the ACC Fronts. Our results show a distinct succession in the dominant bacterial phylotypes present in the different water masses and suggest a strong role of sea surface temperatures and the availability of Carbon and Nitrogen in controlling community composition. This work represents an important baseline for future studies on the response of Southern Ocean epipelagic microbial communities to climate change.

Fjords of the western and northern regions of Svalbard harbour distinct bacterioplankton community structures.

Fjords are highly dynamic ecosystems that are known to be sentinels to climate change due to increased glaciomarine interactions. The convergence and mixing of warm Atlantic water (AtW) and cold Arctic water (ArW) is known to influence the hydrodynamics and ecology of the Arctic fjords. However, most past studies were limited to single-fjord ecosystems, determining the baseline knowledge of inter-fjord comparison on bacterioplankton diversity and distribution patterns. In the present study, we investigated the bacterial diversity and community composition across three Arctic fjords located in the western and northern regions of Svalbard. Our observations show that the bacterial community structure varied significantly among the fjords, while abundant Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) were widespread (n = 100) between all the samples and rare OTUs (n = 2221) mainly contributed to these differences. Phylogenetic classification revealed that Alpha (27.3-55%) and Gamma-proteobacteria (16-51.3%), followed by Bacteroidota (17-35.7%) were dominant in the St.Jonsfjorden and Magdalenefjorden, while Verrucomicrobiota (up to 84.19%) and Actinobacteriota (up to 76.5%) were predominant in the Raudfjorden. Temperature, dissolved inorganic phosphate (DIP) and depth were found to significantly influence the community composition of abundant bacterial groups, whereas the rare bacterial groups were affected by temperature, DIP, dissolved inorganic nitrate (DIN), ammonium and depth. A comparative meta-analysis along with Kongsfjorden and Krossfjorden also showed that each fjord had a significantly different bacterioplankton community structure.

Biogeographic Patterns and Community Assembly Processes of Bacterioplankton and Potential Pathogens in Subtropical Estuaries in China.

Microbial communities in coastal waters are diverse and dynamic and play important roles in ecosystem functions and services. Despite the ecological impact of bacterioplankton or pathogens, little is known about whether bacterioplankton and pathogen communities exhibit similar patterns. Here, using 16S RNA gene amplicon sequencing, the geographic patterns and assembly processes of bacterioplankton and pathogen communities in 30 subtropical estuaries were studied. Results showed that the estuarine bacterioplankton communities mainly consisted of Proteobacteria (49.06%), Actinobacteria (17.62%), and Bacteroidetes (16.33%), among which 31 pathogen genera (186 amplicon sequence variants [ASVs]) were identified. Under the influence of salinity, bacterioplankton and pathogens showed similar biogeographic patterns. Redundancy and correlation analyses indicated that the bacterioplankton communities were strongly correlated with estuarine environmental factors, but potential pathogens were less influenced. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed a close relationship between bacterioplankton and potential pathogens, with two pathogens identified as connectors (i.e., ASV340 [Clostridium perfringens] and ASV1624 [Brevundimonas diminuta]), implying potential impacts of pathogens on structure, function, and stability of estuarine bacterioplankton communities. Null-model analysis revealed that deterministic processes (heterogeneous selection) dominated bacterioplankton community assembly, while stochastic processes (undominated effect) shaped the potential pathogen community. Our findings illustrate the biogeographic patterns and community assembly mechanisms of bacterioplankton and pathogens in estuaries, which should provide guidance and a reference for the control of potential pathogenic bacteria. IMPORTANCE Bacterioplankton play an important role in estuarine ecosystem functions and services; however, potentially pathogenic bacteria may exhibit infectivity and pose a serious threat to environmental and human health. In this study, geographic patterns and assembly processes of bacterioplankton communities in 30 subtropical estuaries were explored, and potential pathogenic bacteria in the estuaries were detected and profiled. Our results demonstrate here that bacterioplankton and pathogens show similar biogeographic patterns under the influence of salinity. Interestingly, heterogeneous selection dominated bacterioplankton assembly, while stochasticity dominated pathogen assembly. This study provides important information for future risk assessment of potential pathogenic bacteria as well as management in estuarine ecosystems.

Diversity, structure, and distribution of bacterioplankton and diazotroph communities in the Bay of Bengal during the winter monsoon.

The Bay of Bengal (BoB) is conventionally believed to be a low productive, oligotrophic marine ecosystem, where the diazotroph communities presumed to play a vital role in adding "new" nitrogen through the nitrogen fixation process. However, the diazotroph communities in the oceanic region of the BoB are still poorly understood though it represents most of the seawater volume. The present study investigated a detailed account of the bacterioplankton community structure and distribution in the oceanic BoB during the winter monsoon using high throughput sequencing targeting the 16S rRNA and nifH genes. Our study observed diverse groups of bacterioplankton communities in the BoB including both cyanobacterial and non-cyanobacterial phylotypes. Cyanobacteria (Prochlorococcus spp. and Synechococcus spp.) and Proteobacteria (mainly α-, γ-, and δ-Proteobacteria) were the most abundant groups within the bacterial communities, possessing differential vertical distribution patterns. Cyanobacteria were more abundant in the surface waters, whereas Proteobacteria dominated the deeper layers (75 m). However, within the diazotroph communities, Proteobacteria (mainly γ-Proteobacteria) were the most dominant groups than Cyanobacteria. Function prediction based on PICRUSt revealed that nitrogen fixation might more active to add fixed nitrogen in the surface waters, while nitrogen removal pathways (denitrification and anammox) might stronger in deeper layers. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that temperature, salinity, and silicate were major environmental factors driving the distribution of bacterial communities. Additionally, phosphate was also an important factor in regulating the diazotroph communities in the surface water. Overall, this study provided detailed information on bacterial communities and their vital role in the nitrogen cycles in oligotrophic ecosystems.

A Preliminary Study of Bacterioplankton Community Structure in the Taiyangshan Wetland in Ningxia and Its Driving Factors.

The Taiyangshan Wetland, a valuable wetland resource in the arid zone of central Ningxia, is critical for flood storage and drought resistance, climate regulation, and biodiversity protection. Nevertheless, the community structure and diversity of bacterioplankton in the Taiyangshan Wetland remains unclear. High-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the differences in bacterioplankton structure and major determinants in the Taiyangshan Wetland from April to October 2020. The composition and diversity of the bacterioplankton community varied significantly in different sampling periods but showed negligible differences across lake regions. Meanwhile, the relative abundances of bacterioplankton Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, Tenericutes, Epsilonbacteraeota, and Patescibacteria were significantly different in different sampling periods, while the relative abundances of Cyanobacteria in different lake regions were quite different. Network analysis revealed that the topological attributes of co-occurrence pattern networks of bacterioplankton were high, and bacterioplankton community compositions were complicated in the month of July. A mantel test revealed that the bacterioplankton community in the entire wetland was affected by water temperature, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, salinity, total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand, fluoride, and sulfate. The bacterioplankton community structure was affected by ten environmental parameters (e.g., water temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, and permanganate index) in April, while the bacterioplankton community was only related to 1~2 environmental parameters in July and October. The bacterioplankton community structure in Lake Region IV was related to seven environmental parameters, including dissolved oxygen, pH, total nitrogen, and chemical oxygen demand, whereas the bacterioplankton community structures in the other three lake regions were related to two environmental parameters. This study facilitates the understanding of the bacterioplankton community in wetlands in arid areas and provides references to the evaluation of aquatic ecological management of the Taiyangshan Wetland.

Biogeography of Southern Ocean Active Prokaryotic Communities Over a Large Spatial Scale.

The activity of marine microorganisms depends on community composition, yet, in some oceans, less is known about the environmental and ecological processes that structure their distribution. The objective of this study was to test the effect of geographical distance and environmental parameters on prokaryotic community structure in the Southern Ocean (SO). We described the total (16S rRNA gene) and the active fraction (16S rRNA-based) of surface microbial communities over a ~6,500 km longitudinal transect in the SO. We found that the community composition of the total fraction was different from the active fraction across the zones investigated. In addition, higher α-diversity and stronger species turnover were displayed in the active community compared to the total community. Oceanospirillales, Alteromonadales, Rhodobacterales, and Flavobacteriales dominated the composition of the bacterioplankton communities; however, there were marked differences at the order level. Temperature, salinity, silicic acid, particulate organic nitrogen, and particulate organic carbon correlated with the composition of bacterioplankton communities. A strong distance–decay pattern between closer and distant communities was observed. We hypothesize that it was related to the different oceanic fronts present in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the complex arrangement that shapes the structure of bacterioplankton communities in the SO.

Eutrophication in subtropical lakes reinforces the dominance of balanced-variation component in temporal bacterioplankton community heterogeneity by lessening stochastic processes.

Unveiling the rules of bacterioplankton community assembly in anthropogenically disturbed lakes is a crucial issue in aquatic ecology. However, it is unclear how the ecological processes underlying the seasonally driven bacterioplankton community structure respond to varying degrees of lake eutrophication. We, therefore, collected water samples from three subtropical freshwater lakes with various trophic states (i.e. oligo-mesotrophic, mesotrophic, and eutrophic states) on a quarterly basis between 2017 and 2018. To innovatively increase our understanding of bacterioplankton community assembly along the trophic state gradient, the total bacterioplankton community dissimilarity was subdivided into balanced variation in abundances and abundance gradients. The results indicated that balanced-variation component rather than abundance-gradient component dominated the total temporal β-diversity of bacterioplankton communities across all trophic categories. Ecological stochasticity contributed more to the overall bacterioplankton community assembly in the oligo-mesotrophic and mesotrophic lakes than in the eutrophic lake. The reduced bacterioplankton network complexity at the eutrophic level was closely associated with the enhancement of environmental filtering, showing that bacterioplankton communities in eutrophic lakes are likely to be less stable and more vulnerable to water quality degradation. Together, this study offers essential clues for biodiversity conservation in subtropical lakes under future intensified eutrophication.

Vertically Exported Phytoplankton (&lt; 20 µm) and Their Correlation Network With Bacterioplankton Along a Deep-Sea Seamount

Phytoplankton have been observed to be widely distributed in the oceanic vertical water columns and have an important contribution to carbon sequestrationviabiological pump mechanism. However, in seamount areas with strong hydrodynamics, their vertical export is still unclear. Moreover, considering phyto- and bacterioplankton are inseparable in the ocean, their correlation in the water columns is also an important scientific issue to be understood, which is related to the microbial ecological process in the aphotic zone. Here, we revealed that there were various phytoplankton (&amp;lt; 20 µm) along a deep-sea seamount (M5 seamount) in the Western Pacific Ocean, and their molecular community structures had no significant difference in different water layers, which were all dominated by Dinophyceae, Syndiniales, and Baciilariophyta. In contrast, the vertical distribution of bacterioplankton community structure showed great variation. Notably, distinct species-specific algae-bacteria relationships occurred in different water layers, and relatively more prominent algae-bacteria relationships occurred in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones than the euphotic zone. In laboratory experiments, after co-cultivating the significantly different bacterial communities from different water layers withSynechococcussp. PCC7002 andPhaeodactylum tricornutumCCMP2561, respectively, the distinct bacterial community structures from different water layers turned similar, reflecting the strong reshaping effect of phytoplankton on the structure of bacterial communities. However, the reshaping effects on bacterial communities by the two algae differed significantly. Overall, the vertically transported phytoplankton in the seamount area not only contribute importantly to carbon sequestrationviabiological pump, but also may have an important reshaping effect on the bacterioplankton community structure in different water layers.

Characteristics of Bacterioplankton Community Between River and Lake/Reservoir in the Yangtze River Basin

To explore the bacterioplankton community structure in the Yangtze River basin, water samples were collected from 177 sampling sites, including the source to the estuary along the mainstream of the Yangtze River, eight primary tributaries, and several lakes and reservoirs. The 16S rRNA genes were used to explore the bacterioplankton communities based on single molecule real-time sequencing, with the aim to study the diversity and community characteristics in a border sampling area and higher species annotation accuracy. Based on α-diversity analysis, the river area had higher species richness than that of the lake/reservoir area, resulting in these two areas having different bacterioplankton community diversities. Based on the β diversity analysis, the bacterioplankton showed different community compositions between the river and lake/reservoir areas; temperature was the key environmental factor for the river area, and pH was the key environmental factor for the lake/reservoir area. In order to study the influence of different bacterioplankton communities, this study further investigated the species, function, and community differences between the river and lake/reservoir areas. The results were as follows:for the river area, the eutrophication level gradually increased from west to east along the mainstream of the Yangtze River, resulting in a gradually increased relative abundance of specific species. The lake/reservoir area had a higher risk of cyanobacteria bloom, and the opportunistic pathogen had a high relative abundance in the Danjiangkou Reservoir, indicating a higher ecological risk. For species composition, the river and lake/reservoir areas shared most OTUs (84%); however, some uncultured bacteria showed a high relative abundance in the Yangtze River, meaning the bacterioplankton of the Yangtze River basin still requires further study. In general, the river and lake/reservoir shared most species; however, the different bacterioplankton diversity, community composition, and enriched species made the river and lake/reservoir have different key environmental factors, and they also showed differences in ecological functions.