The influence on contaminant bioavailability and microbial abundance of lake hongze by the south-to-northwater diversion project

Abstract

The world famous South-to-North Water Transfer Project was built to alleviate serious water shortages in northern China. Considering that lake Hongze is an important freshwater lake in this region, analyzing the influence of water diversion on typical contaminant bioavailability and microbial abundance could aid in achieving a good overall understanding of hydrodynamic variation. Accordingly, in situ high-resolution measurements of diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) and next-generation high-throughput sequencing were combined in order to survey Lake Hongze and determine the relationship between environmental factors and microbial communities. The DGT method effectively obtained more than the 85% of bioavailable concentrations of the corresponding contaminants; the results showed that labile P, S, Fe, As, and Hg concentrations were higher in areas influenced by water transfer. Moreover, the relative abundance and alpha diversity of the sampling sites distributed in the water transfer area differed significantly from other sites. The pH, conductivity, and labile Mn, As, and P were shown to be the primary environmental factors affecting the abundance and diversity of microbes. With the exception of bioturbation-affected sites controlled by labile Mn and pH, sites distributed in the water diversion area were most affected by As and conductivity, with little spatial discrepancy. Furthermore, site 2, with higher bioturbation abundance, and site 10, with stronger hydrodynamics, had low alpha diversity compared to the other sites. Consequently, the bioavailability of typical contaminants such as P, S, As, Hg, Fe, Mg, Cd, Pb, and Mn, as well as the diversity and abundance of microbial in the sites influenced by the water diversion, were significantly different to the other sites. Thus, the impacts of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project on participant lakes were non-negligible overall in the investigation.