Bacterioplankton assemblages in coastal ponds reflect the influence of hydrology and geomorphological setting

Bacterioplankton dispersal and biogeochemical function across Alaskan Arctic catchments

In Arctic catchments, bacterioplankton are dispersed through soils and streams, both of which freeze and thaw/flow in phase, seasonally. To characterize this dispersal and its potential impact on biogeochemistry, we collected bacterioplankton and measured stream physicochemistry during snowmelt and after vegetation senescence across multiple stream orders in alpine, tundra, and tundra-dominated-by-lakes catchments. In all catchments, differences in community composition were associated with seasonal thaw, then attachment status (i.e. free floating or sediment associated), and then stream order. Bacterioplankton taxonomic diversity and richness were elevated in sediment-associated fractions and in higher-order reaches during snowmelt. Families Chthonomonadaceae, Pyrinomonadaceae, and Xiphinematobacteraceae were abundantly different across seasons, while Flavobacteriaceae and Microscillaceae were abundantly different between free-floating and sediment-associated fractions. Physicochemical data suggested there was high iron (Fe⁺ ) production (alpine catchment); Fe⁺ production and chloride (Cl^- ) removal (tundra catchment); and phosphorus (SRP) removal and ammonium (NH₄ ⁺ ) production (lake catchment). In tundra landscapes, these 'hot spots' of Fe⁺ production and Cl^- removal accompanied shifts in species richness, while SRP promoted the antecedent community. Our findings suggest that freshet increases bacterial dispersal from headwater catchments to receiving catchments, where bacterioplankton-mineral relations stabilized communities in free-flowing reaches, but bacterioplankton-nutrient relations stabilized those punctuated by lakes.

Bacterial and ciliate biofilm community structure at different spatial levels of a salt lake meta-community

Meta-communities are assembled along an ecological scale that determines local and regional diversity. Spatial patterns have been detected in planktonic bacterial communities at distances <20 m, but little is known about the occurrence of similar variation for other microbial groups and changes in microbial meta-community assembly at different levels of a meta-community. To examine this variation, the biofilm of eight saline ponds were used to investigate processes shaping diversity within ponds (β) and between ponds (δ). Bacterial and ciliate communities were assessed using ARISA and T-RFLP respectively, while diversity partitioning methods were used to examine the importance of taxonomic turnover and variation partitioning was used to distinguish spatial from environmental determinants. The results show that turnover is important for determining β- and δ-diversity of biofilms. Spatial factors are important drivers of bacterial β-diversity but were unimportant for ciliate β-diversity. Environmental variation was a strong determinant of bacterial and ciliate δ-diversity, suggesting sorting processes are important for assembling pond communities. Determinants of diversity in bacteria are not universal for ciliates, suggesting higher functional redundancy of bacteria or the greater niche breadth of ciliates may be important in discriminating assembly processes between the two organisms.

Prokaryotic footprints in urban water ecosystems: A case study of urban landscape ponds in a coastal city, China

The urban water ecosystems, such as the landscape ponds are commonly considered under the influence of anthropogenic disturbances, which can lead to the deterioration of the water quality. The prokaryotic communities are considered as one of the best indicators of the water quality. However, there are significant gaps in understanding the ecological processes that shape the composition and function of prokaryotic communities in the urban water ecosystems. Here, we investigated the biogeographic distribution of prokaryotic assemblages in water environments including landscape ponds, drinking water reservoirs, influents (IFs) and effluents (EFs) of wastewater treatment plants of a coastal city (Xiamen), China, by using 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. Our results indicated that the ponds had higher α-diversity of prokaryotic communities than those in the reservoirs, while there were significant variations in the community compositions among ponds, reservoirs, IFs and EFs. Moreover, ponds harbored a significantly higher proportion of sewage- and fecal-indicator taxa than those in the reservoirs, suggesting the occurrence of exogenous pollution in the urban ponds. Null model analysis revealed that dispersal limitation was the main ecological processes resulting in the divergence of prokaryotic community compositions between ponds and other environments, while dispersal limitation and variable selection played an essential role in the formation of unique prokaryotic assemblages in the reservoirs. Function predication analysis demonstrated that the ponds shared more similar functional profiles with IFs or EFs (e.g., chemoheterotrophy, fermentation, chlorate reducers, nitrate reduction and respiration) than the reservoirs, whereas dominance of photoautotrophy was observed in the reservoirs. Overall, this study provides a profound insight of the ecological mechanisms underlying the responses of prokaryotic communities in the urban landscape ponds to the anthropogenic disturbances.