Distribution heterogeneity of sediment bacterial community in the river-lake system impacted by nonferrous metal mines: Diversity, composition and co-occurrence patterns

Aihua Wang; Mengchang He; Huiji Liu; Wei Ouyang; Xinyi Liu; Qin Li; Chunye Lin; Xitao Liu

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122715

Distribution heterogeneity of sediment bacterial community in the river-lake system impacted by nonferrous metal mines: Diversity, composition and co-occurrence patterns

Environ Pollut. 2023 Dec 1:338:122715. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122715. Epub 2023 Oct 9.

Authors

Aihua Wang¹, Mengchang He¹, Huiji Liu¹, Wei Ouyang², Xinyi Liu¹, Qin Li¹, Chunye Lin¹, Xitao Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Advanced Interdisciplinary Institute of Environment and Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, 519087, China. Electronic address: wei@bnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37821043
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122715

Abstract

Metal(loid) pollution caused by mining activities can affect microbial communities. However, knowledge of the diversity, composition, and co-occurrence patterns of bacterial communities in aquatic systems impacted by nonferrous metal mines. Here, the metal(loid) contents and bacterial communities in sediments from the Zijiang River (tributary to mainstream) to Dongting Lake were investigated by geochemical and molecular biology methods. The results indicated that the river sediments had lower pH and higher ecological risk of metal(loid)s than the lake sediment. The diversity and composition of bacterial communities in river sediments significantly (p < 0.05) differed from those in lake sediments, showing distributional heterogeneity. The biomarkers of tributary, mainstream, and lake sediments were mainly members of Deltaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Nitrospirae, respectively, reflecting species sorting in different habitats. Multivariate statistical analysis demonstrated that total and bioavailable Sb, As, and Zn were positively correlated with bacterial community richness. pH, TOC, TN, and Zn were crucial factors in shaping the distribution difference of bacterial communities. Environment-bacteria network analysis indicated that pH, SO₄^2-, and total and bioavailable As and Sb greatly influenced the bacterial composition at the genus level. Bacteria-bacteria network analysis manifested that the co-occurrence network in mainstream sediments with a higher risk of metal(loid) pollution exhibited higher modularity and connectivity, which might be the survival mechanism for bacterial communities adapted to metal(loid) pollution. This study can provide a theoretical basis for understanding the ecological status of aquatic systems.

Keywords: Aquatic sediment; Bacterial community diversity and composition; Co-occurrence network; Diffuse metal pollution; Nonferrous metal mine.

MeSH terms

Bacteria
China
Geologic Sediments / chemistry
Lakes* / microbiology
Metals / analysis
Microbiota*
Rivers / chemistry

Substances

Metals