To explore the composition of the nirS denitrifying bacterial community during stratification in spring(March to May) in a drinking water reservoir and its relationship with water quality, the water quality and relative abundance and structure of the denitrifying bacterial community were analyzed using in-situ monitoring coupled with Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology in the Lijiahe Reservoir. The results showed that:① through high-throughput sequencing, 4 phyla and 13 genera were identified. The dominant bacterial phylum was Proteobacteria, and its relative abundance was between 52.5% and 70.6%. The overall trend of the relative abundance of Proteobacteria decreased on the time scale (P<0.05), and its relative abundance in the surface and middle layers was higher than that of the bottom layer on the spatial scale (P<0.05). There was no difference in the proportion of Proteobacteria between the surface and middle layers (P>0.05), and the abundance of its bottom layer was relatively stable; eight genera of bacteria with denitrification function were identified, among which the dominant bacterial genera (relative abundance>1%) were Dechloromonas and Pseudomonas. The relative abundance of Dechloromonas showed a trend of first decreasing and then increasing on the time scale, whereas the relative abundance of Pseudomonas showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing on the time scale. There were no differences on the spatial scale between these two genera (P>0.05); the changes in bacterial diversity and abundance were basically similar, with a trend of first increasing and then decreasing on the time scale. The highest diversity and abundance of the bacterial community gradually increased with increasing depth on the spatial scale. ② ρ(TN) of the reservoir during stratification was 2.35-2.91 mg·L-1, and the nitrogen pollution was more serious. In March and April, ρ(TN) on the vertical scale was basically similar and showed a decreasing trend. In May, the content of total nitrogen was higher than that in March and April, and the highest value of total nitrogen content occurred in the surface layer. ③ Redundancy analysis showed that water temperature, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and ammonia nitrogen were the main driving factors, and ammonia nitrogen showed a significantly negative correlation with Dechlormonas. In summary, the study of nirS-type denitrification communities and related influencing factors will contribute to analyzing the characteristics of denitrifying bacterial community changes in a micro-polluted drinking water reservoir and provide a theoretical research basis for the biological remediation of nitrogen pollution in such reservoirs in the future.
Keywords: Illumina high-throughput sequencing; Lijiahe Reservoir; RDA analysis; nirS denitrifying bacteria; nitrogen pollution.