Strategies for regulating the intensity of different cyanobacterial blooms: Insights from the dynamics and stability of bacterioplankton communities

Baohai Zheng; Peichang Dong; Teng Zhao; Yuting Deng; Jie Li; Lirong Song; Jinna Wang; Ling Zhou; Junqiong Shi; Zhongxing Wu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170707

Strategies for regulating the intensity of different cyanobacterial blooms: Insights from the dynamics and stability of bacterioplankton communities

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Mar 25:918:170707. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170707. Epub 2024 Feb 6.

Authors

Baohai Zheng¹, Peichang Dong¹, Teng Zhao¹, Yuting Deng¹, Jie Li², Lirong Song³, Jinna Wang¹, Ling Zhou¹, Junqiong Shi¹, Zhongxing Wu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Plant Ecology and Resources Research in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
² Department of Cell Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha 410013, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Plant Ecology and Resources Research in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic address: wuzhx@swu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38325489
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170707

Abstract

The occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms is increasing in frequency and magnitude due to climate change and human activities, which poses a direct threat to drinking water security. The impacts of abiotic and biotic factors on the development of blooms have been well studied; however, control strategies for different bloom intensities have rarely been explored from the perspective of the dynamics and stability of bacterioplankton communities. Here, a network analysis was used to investigate the interactions and stability of microbial communities during different periods of R. raciborskii bloom in an inland freshwater lake. The abundance and diversity of rare taxa were significantly higher than that of abundant taxa throughout the bloom cycle. At the pre-bloom (PB) stage, microbial interactions among the different bacterial groups were weak but strongly negatively correlated, indicating low robustness and weak disturbance resistance within the community. However, community stability was better, and microbial interactions became more complicated at the high-bloom (HB) and low-bloom (LB) stages. Interestingly, rare taxa were significantly responsible for community stability and connectivity despite their low relative abundance. The Mantel test revealed that Secchi depth (SD), orthophosphate (PO₄^3--P), and dissolved oxygen (DO) were significantly positively correlated with abundant taxa, rare taxa and PB. DO was significantly positively correlated with HB, intermediate taxa, and rare taxa, while water temperature (WT), N/P and total nitrogen (TN) were significantly positively correlated with LB, abundant taxa, intermediate taxa, and rare taxa. These findings suggest that reducing the PO₄^3--P concentration at the PB stage may be an effective approach to preventing the development of R. raciborskii blooms, while regulating rare taxa at the HB and LB stages may be a key factor in controlling R. raciborskii blooms.

Keywords: Community stability; Cyanobacterial blooms; Microbial interactions; Network analysis; Rare and abundant taxa.

MeSH terms

Aquatic Organisms
Cyanobacteria*
Drinking Water*
Eutrophication
Humans
Lakes / microbiology
Microbiota*

Substances

Drinking Water