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Yalçın G, Yıldız D, Calderó-Pascual M, Yetim S, Şahin Y, Parakatselaki ME, Avcı F, Karakaya N, Ladoukakis ED, Berger SA, Ger KA, Jeppesen E, Beklioğlu M. Quality matters: Response of bacteria and ciliates to different allochthonous dissolved organic matter sources as a pulsed disturbance in shallow lakes. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 916:170140. [PMID: 38244618 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 01/22/2024]
Abstract
Shallow lake ecosystems are particularly prone to disturbances such as pulsed dissolved organic matter (allochthonous-DOM; hereafter allo-DOM) loadings from catchments. However, the effects of allo-DOM with contrasting quality (in addition to quantity) on the planktonic communities of microbial loop are poorly understood. To determine the impact of different qualities of pulsed allo-DOM disturbance on the coupling between bacteria and ciliates, we conducted a mesocosm experiment with two different allo-DOM sources added to mesocosms in a single-pulse disturbance event: Alder tree leaf extract, a more labile (L) source and HuminFeed® (HF), a more recalcitrant source. Allo-DOM sources were used as separate treatments and in combination (HFL) relative to the control without allo-DOM additions (C). Our results indicate that the quality of allo-DOM was a major regulator of planktonic microbial community biomass and/or composition through which both bottom-up and top-down forces were involved. Bacteria biomass showed significant nonlinear responses in L and HFL with initial increases followed by decreases to pre-pulse conditions. Ciliate biomass was significantly higher in L compared to all other treatments. In terms of composition, bacterivore ciliate abundance was significantly higher in both L and HFL treatments, mainly driven by the bacterial biomass increase in the same treatments. GAMM models showed negative interaction between metazoan zooplankton biomass and ciliates, but only in the L treatment, indicating top-down control on ciliates. Ecosystem stability analyses revealed overperformance, high resilience and full recovery of bacteria in the HFL and L treatments, while ciliates showed significant shift in compositional stability in HFL and L with incomplete taxonomic recovery. Our study highlights the importance of allo-DOM quality shaping the response within the microbial loop not only through triggering different scenarios in biomass, but also the community composition, stability, and species interactions (top-down and bottom-up) in bacteria and plankton.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gülce Yalçın
- Limnology Laboratory, Biological Sciences Department, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey; Ecosystem Research and Implementation Center, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
| | - Dilvin Yıldız
- Limnology Laboratory, Biological Sciences Department, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey; Earth System Sciences, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Science, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
| | - Maria Calderó-Pascual
- Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk, Marshes Upper, Co. Louth A91 K584, Ireland..
| | - Sinem Yetim
- Limnology Laboratory, Biological Sciences Department, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
| | - Yiğit Şahin
- Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Ege University, 35100 Izmir, Turkey; Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ege University, 35100, Izmir, Turkey
| | | | - Feride Avcı
- Limnology Laboratory, Biological Sciences Department, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
| | | | - Emmanuel D Ladoukakis
- Department of Biology, University of Crete, Voutes University Campus, 70013 Heraklion, Greece.
| | - Stella A Berger
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Department of Plankton and Microbial Ecology, Zur alten Fischerhuette 2, 16775 Stechlin, Germany.
| | - Kemal Ali Ger
- Department of Ecology (DECOL), Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN 59078-970, Brazil..
| | - Erik Jeppesen
- Limnology Laboratory, Biological Sciences Department, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey; Ecosystem Research and Implementation Center, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey; Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, 8000C Aarhus, Denmark; Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research (SDC), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Meryem Beklioğlu
- Limnology Laboratory, Biological Sciences Department, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey; Ecosystem Research and Implementation Center, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
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Zhang J, Chen X, Soetaert K, Xu Y. The relative roles of multiple drivers on benthic ciliate communities in an intertidal zone. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2023; 187:114510. [PMID: 36577240 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Intertidal biodiversity is being severely disrupted as a result of increased anthropogenic activity. However, our knowledge about how natural gradients, human induced disturbance and biotic interactions affect biodiversity is limited. So, we investigated how three facets of alpha diversity and community composition of benthic ciliates responded to environmental and biological gradients in the intertidal zone of Zhejiang, China. The key determinants and their relative effects on ciliate communities were identified using structural equation modeling, distance-based redundancy analysis and variation partitioning analysis. Our results revealed that sediment grain size was the most important factor affecting alpha diversity and community composition. Human induced eutrophication had significant effects on phylogenetic alpha diversity and community composition. However, the effects of biotic interactions on ciliate communities were relatively small. Moreover, we found community composition was more sensitive to human disturbance than alpha diversity, thus, more suitable for indicating human-induced eutrophication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiawei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Xinyi Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Karline Soetaert
- Department of Estuarine and Delta Systems, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, PO Box 140, 4400AC Yerseke, the Netherlands
| | - Yuan Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China; Yangtze Delta Estuarine Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Education & Shanghai Science and Technology Committee, Shanghai 202162, China.
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Dias HQ, Sukumaran S, Neetu S, Ridha H. Benthic community resilience in two differently impacted tropical estuaries: Taxonomic vs functional approaches. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2022; 324:116264. [PMID: 36194943 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Revised: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Estuaries experience incessant modifications due to various stressors causing shifts in the benthic species community structure and ecosystem functioning. Two tropical estuaries along Northwest India, exposed to varied intensities of anthropogenic perturbations, were sampled seasonally for two consecutive years. Specific aims were to assess, compare and link the macroinvertebrate taxonomic and functional structures, to evaluate the resilience of estuarine benthic ecosystems by employing the multiple-trait approach and to identify major influencing environmental drivers for patterns discerned. Taxonomic and functional compositions in both the estuaries produced varied segregations along the estuarine zones, driven primarily by natural estuarine gradients like salinity and sediment grain size, despite extant anthropogenic stressors. Multiple traits contributed to the variance in benthic functioning. The Biological Trait Analysis (BTA) revealed that both the estuaries had similar trait compositions in the lower zones, while the middle and upper zones of each estuary presented different permutations of traits. The functional complexity at different estuarine sections was influenced by the variability in taxonomic composition and species dominance. However, relationships between Functional Diversity (FD) and species diversity were equivocal, signifying that taxonomic diversity may not be an efficient proxy for benthic functioning. As the zones had differential stressors and disturbance acts as a filter, discrete functional trait profiles of opportunistic traits were visualized along the potentially impacted zones. Thus, the less impacted lower zones had multiple traits, while the mid-upper zones that were subject to both anthropogenic and natural stressors had fewer traits. A more consistent functional structure, higher functional redundancy and substantial proportion of recolonisation traits (small-sized, short-lived, motile forms) suggested better resilience in one study estuary than the other one. Our study advocates that the inclusion of both taxonomical and functional metrics can provide in-depth inferences related to the macrobenthic community resilience and this coupled approach is imperative for effective future management programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidy Q Dias
- CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre Andheri (W), Mumbai, 400 053, India
| | - Soniya Sukumaran
- CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre Andheri (W), Mumbai, 400 053, India.
| | - S Neetu
- CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Panaji, Goa, 403004, India
| | - Hurmine Ridha
- CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre Andheri (W), Mumbai, 400 053, India
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Han K, Pan H, Jiang J. Taxonomy and SSU rRNA gene-based phylogeny of two new Euplotes species from China: E. chongmingensis n. sp. and E. paramieti n. sp. (Protista, Ciliophora). BMC Microbiol 2022; 22:133. [PMID: 35578180 PMCID: PMC9109319 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-022-02543-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The genus Euplotes Ehrenberg, 1830, one of the most complicated and confused taxa, contains about 160 nominal species. It was once proposed to be divided into four genera, two of which were proved to be non-monophyletic. At least 19 new species have been discovered in the past decade, implying that there is a large undiscovered diversity of this genus. Results The morphology of two new freshwater euplotid ciliates, Euplotes chongmingensis n. sp. and E. paramieti n. sp., isolated from Shanghai, China, were investigated using live observations, protargol staining, and Chatton-Lwoff silver staining method. Euplotes chongmingensis is characterized by its small size (40–50 × 25–35 μm), about 24 adoral membranelles, 10 frontoventral cirri, two marginal and two caudal cirri, eight dorsolateral kineties with 11–16 dikinetids in the mid-dorsolateral kinety and a double type of silverline system. Euplotes paramieti n. sp. is 180–220 × 110–155 μm in vivo and strongly resembles E. amieti but having a difference of 57 bp in their SSU rRNA gene sequences. Phylogenetic analyses based on SSU rRNA gene sequence data were used to determine the systematic positions of these new taxa. Conclusions The description of two new freshwater taxa and their SSU rRNA gene sequences improve knowledge of biodiversity and enrich the database of euplotids. Furthermore, it offers a reliable reference for environmental monitoring and resource investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kun Han
- Shanghai Universities Key Laboratory of Marine Animal Taxonomy and Evolution, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.,Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
| | - Hongbo Pan
- Shanghai Universities Key Laboratory of Marine Animal Taxonomy and Evolution, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.,Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
| | - Jiamei Jiang
- Shanghai Universities Key Laboratory of Marine Animal Taxonomy and Evolution, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China. .,Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.
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Xu Y, Soininen J, Zhang S, Fan X. Disentangling the relative roles of natural and anthropogenic-induced stressors in shaping benthic ciliate diversity in a heavily disturbed bay. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 801:149683. [PMID: 34416601 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Coastal areas are facing biodiversity loss and degradation of habitats due to intensified human activities. However, our understanding of the relative contribution of natural gradients and human induced disturbance to biodiversity is limited. Here, we investigated the response of three facets of alpha and beta diversity of benthic ciliates to environmental gradients in a highly disturbed estuarine bay in China. We used linear regression and distance-based redundancy analysis to determine the key driving factors for biodiversity. Variation partitioning was further used to examine the relative influence of natural gradients and anthropogenic disturbances on ciliate communities. Our results revealed that ciliate alpha diversity and functional composition remained similar despite notable variation in species composition along salinity gradient. Sediment grain size, together with heavy metals were the strongest determinants in shaping both alpha and beta diversity. After controlling for the effect of natural factors, heavy metals still had significant impacts on beta diversity. Human induced nitrogen enrichment was positively correlated with algivorous functional group with possible impacts on benthic food webs. These results suggest that beta diversity is overall more sensitive to anthropogenic stressors than alpha diversity and give important insights into the role of anthropogenic disturbance on coastal diversity, being also useful for developing ecosystem protection and conservation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
| | - Janne Soininen
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00560, Finland
| | - Shukun Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Xinpeng Fan
- School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
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Liu W, McManus GB, Lin X, Huang H, Zhang W, Tan Y. Distribution Patterns of Ciliate Diversity in the South China Sea. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:689688. [PMID: 34539599 PMCID: PMC8446678 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.689688] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Ciliates are abundant microplankton that are widely distributed in the ocean. In this paper, the distribution patterns of ciliate diversity in the South China Sea (SCS) were analyzed by compiling community data from previous publications. Based on morphological identification, a total of 592 ciliate species have been recorded in the SCS. The ciliate communities in intertidal, neritic and oceanic water areas were compared in terms of taxonomy, motility and feeding habit composition, respectively. Significant community variation was revealed among the three areas, but the difference between the intertidal area and the other two areas was more significant than that between neritic and oceanic areas. The distributions of ciliates within each of the three areas were also analyzed. In the intertidal water, the community was not significantly different among sites but did differ among habitat types. In neritic and oceanic areas, the spatial variation of communities among different sites was clearly observed. Comparison of communities by taxonomic and ecological traits (motility and feeding habit) indicated that these traits similarly revealed the geographical pattern of ciliates on a large scale in the SCS, but to distinguish the community variation on a local scale, taxonomic traits has higher resolution than ecological traits. In addition, we assessed the relative influences of environmental and spatial factors on assembly of ciliate communities in the SCS and found that environmental selection is the major process structuring the taxonomic composition in intertidal water, while spatial processes played significant roles in influencing the taxonomic composition in neritic and oceanic water. Among ecological traits, environmental selection had the most important impact on distributions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiwei Liu
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-Resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
| | - George B. McManus
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, United States
| | - Xiaofeng Lin
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystem, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Honghui Huang
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fishery Ecology and Environment, Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, P. R. China, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wenjing Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Marine Biodiversity and Global Change Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Yehui Tan
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-Resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
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Rajeev AC, Sahu N, Arvind K, Deori M, Grace T, Dev SA, Yadav VP, Ghosh I. Exploring prevalence of potential pathogens and fecal indicators in geographically distinct river systems through comparative metagenomics. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2021; 282:117003. [PMID: 33848911 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2020] [Revised: 02/27/2021] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Microbial communities are considered as vital members to reflect the health of a riverine system. Among them, pathogenic and fecal indicators imply health risks involved with potability of river water. The present study explores the diverse microbial communities, distribution pattern of potential pathogens, and fecal indicators between the geographically distinct Himalayan and Peninsular river systems of India. It also inquires into the environmental factors associated with community variance and distribution pattern of microbial indicators. The application of high-throughput amplicon sequencing approach unveiled significant demarcation (p < 0.004, Anosim R = 0.62) of samples suggesting unique microbial diversities in these two river sediments. Random forest analysis revealed Desulfobulbulus, PSB_M_3, and Opitutus in Himalayan, while DA101, Bacillus, and Streptomyces in the Peninsular as significant contributors to develop overall dissimilarity between the river systems. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance and co-occurrence network analysis were used to study the relationships between microbial taxa and environmental factors. Amongst the various studied environmental parameters, pH, K, Ca, Mg, Ba, and Al in the Himalayan and salinity, Na, temperature, and Th in the Peninsular significantly influenced shaping of distinct microbial communities. Furthermore, the potential pathogenic genera, including Flavobacterium, Clostridium, Arcobacter, Pseudomonas, and Bacillus were highly prevalent in both the river systems. Arcobacter, Clostridium, Acinetobacter, Bacteroides, and Caloramator were the prominent fecal indicators in these river systems. Our findings provide salient information about the crucial role and interplay between various environmental factors and anthropogenic influences in framing the microbiome of the distinct river systems in India. Moreover, assessing potential pathogenic and fecal indicators suggest the public health risk associated with untreated sewage discharge into these water sources. The detection of various F/S indicators and potentially pathogenic bacteria in Himalayan and Peninsular river systems emphasize the urgent need for future monitoring and management of major riverine systems in India.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nishi Sahu
- School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Kumar Arvind
- Department of Genomic Science, Central University of Kerala, India
| | - Maushumi Deori
- School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Tony Grace
- Department of Genomic Science, Central University of Kerala, India
| | - Suma Arun Dev
- Division of Forest Genetics and Biotechnology, Kerala Forest Research Institute, Kerala, India
| | - Vijay Pal Yadav
- School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Ilora Ghosh
- School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
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Frühe L, Cordier T, Dully V, Breiner HW, Lentendu G, Pawlowski J, Martins C, Wilding TA, Stoeck T. Supervised machine learning is superior to indicator value inference in monitoring the environmental impacts of salmon aquaculture using eDNA metabarcodes. Mol Ecol 2020; 30:2988-3006. [PMID: 32285497 DOI: 10.1111/mec.15434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Revised: 03/17/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Increasing anthropogenic impact and global change effects on natural ecosystems has prompted the development of less expensive and more efficient bioassessments methodologies. One promising approach is the integration of DNA metabarcoding in environmental monitoring. A critical step in this process is the inference of ecological quality (EQ) status from identified molecular bioindicator signatures that mirror environmental classification based on standard macroinvertebrate surveys. The most promising approaches to infer EQ from biotic indices (BI) are supervised machine learning (SML) and the calculation of indicator values (IndVal). In this study we compared the performance of both approaches using DNA metabarcodes of bacteria and ciliates as bioindicators obtained from 152 samples collected from seven Norwegian salmon farms. Results from standard macroinvertebrate-monitoring of the same samples were used as reference to compare the accuracy of both approaches. First, SML outperformed the IndVal approach to infer EQ from eDNA metabarcodes. The Random Forest (RF) algorithm appeared to be less sensitive to noisy data (a typical feature of massive environmental sequence data sets) and uneven data coverage across EQ classes (a typical feature of environmental compliance monitoring scheme) compared to a widely used method to infer IndVals for the calculation of a BI. Second, bacteria allowed for a more accurate EQ assessment than ciliate eDNA metabarcodes. For the implementation of DNA metabarcoding into routine monitoring programmes to assess EQ around salmon aquaculture cages, we therefore recommend bacterial DNA metabarcodes in combination with SML to classify EQ categories based on molecular signatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa Frühe
- Ecology Group, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Tristan Cordier
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Verena Dully
- Ecology Group, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Hans-Werner Breiner
- Ecology Group, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Guillaume Lentendu
- Ecology Group, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Jan Pawlowski
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,ID-Gene Ecodiagnostics Ltd, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot, Poland
| | | | - Thomas A Wilding
- Scottish Marine Institute, Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, Scotland
| | - Thorsten Stoeck
- Ecology Group, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
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Using Cilioplankton as an Indicator of the Ecological Condition of Aquatic Ecosystems. GEOSCIENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences9110464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
We assess the quality of surface water in water bodies located in the Middle Volga region (Russian Federation). The water quality is assessed using 19 chemical compounds and cilioplankton indicators, such as the total number of species, the abundance of each species, and, based on both of them, the saprobity index and the Shannon–Weaver diversity index (H). We classify the water quality from polluted to extremely dirty by using abiotic indicators, and from conditionally clean to dirty by means of biotic indicators. Using the logistic regression method, we are able to predict the water quality (clean or dirty) in correspondence with the species diversity index (H) and to clarify how the quality of the water is related to its physicochemical properties. The seven most significant chemical predictors of both natural origin (mineralization, hydro carbonates, and chlorides) and natural-anthropogenic origin (organic substances (according to BOD5), nitrates, total petroleum hydrocarbons, iron), identified during the stepwise selection procedure, have a substantial influence on the outcome of the model. Qualitative and quantitative indicators of development of ciliates, as well as indices calculated on their basis, allow assessing with a very high level of accuracy the water quality and the condition of aquatic ecosystems in general. The Shannon index calculated for the number of ciliates can be successfully used for ranking water bodies as “clean/dirty”.
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