Response of bacterial communities to cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in Lake Taihu, China

•Microcystis was dominant in cyanobacterial community in Lake Taihu.•Bacterial community was dominated by Actinobacteria, Beta- and Alphaproteobacteria.•The temporal variation in bacterial community composition (BCC) was significant.•The variation of BCC mainly depended on DO, nitrate, and Microcyst...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Harmful algae 2017-09, Vol.68, p.168-177
Main Authors: Su, Xiaomei, Steinman, Alan D., Tang, Xiangming, Xue, Qingju, Zhao, Yanyan, Xie, Liqiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacterial community composition
Biodiversity
China
Chlorophyll A - analysis
Cyanobacteria - physiology
Cyanobacterial blooms
Harmful Algal Bloom - physiology
Lake Taihu
Lakes - microbiology
Microbiota
Microcystin concentrations
Microcystins - analysis
Seasons
Time Factors
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Summary:•Microcystis was dominant in cyanobacterial community in Lake Taihu.•Bacterial community was dominated by Actinobacteria, Beta- and Alphaproteobacteria.•The temporal variation in bacterial community composition (BCC) was significant.•The variation of BCC mainly depended on DO, nitrate, and Microcystis.•Microcystis may have an influence on the BCC by reducing its biodiversity. Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms are prevalent around the world, influencing aquatic organisms and altering the physico-chemical properties in freshwater systems. However, the response of bacterial communities to toxic cyanobacterial blooms and associated microcystins (MC) remain poorly understood even though global concentrations of MC have increased dramatically in the past few decades. To address this issue, the dynamics of bacterial community composition (BCC) in the water column and how BCC is influenced by both harmful cyanobacterial blooms and environmental factors were investigated on a monthly basis from August 2013 to July 2014 in Lake Taihu, China. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) revealed that seasonal variation in BCC was significant, and that the succession of BCC greatly depends on changes in environmental conditions. Redundancy analysis (RDA) results showed that the overall variation of BCC was explained mainly by dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N), and Microcystis. The alpha biodiversity of the bacterial community was different among months with the highest diversity in February and the lowest diversity in October. Furthermore, significant negative relationships were found between alpha biodiversity indices and Microcystis abundance as well as with intracellular MC concentrations, indicating that Microcystis and associated MC may influence the bacterial community structure by reducing its biodiversity. This study shows that potential associations exist between toxic cyanobacterial blooms and bacterial communities but more investigations are needed to obtain a mechanistic understanding of their complex relationships.
ISSN:1568-9883
1878-1470
DOI:10.1016/j.hal.2017.08.007