Spatial-temporal changes of bacterioplankton community along an exhorheic river

Abstract

To date, few aquatic microbial ecology studies have discussed the variability of the microbial community in exorheic river ecosystems on both the spatial and seasonal scales. In this study, we examined the spatio-temporal variation of bacterioplankton community composition in an anthropogenically influenced exorheic river, the Haihe River in Tianjin, China, using pyrosequencing analysis of 16S rRNA genes. It was verified by one-way ANOVA that the spatial variability of the bacterioplankton community composition over the whole river was stronger than the seasonal variation. Salinity was a major factor leading to spatial differentiation of the microbial community structure into riverine and estuarial parts. A high temperature influence on the seasonal bacterial community variation was only apparent within certain kinds of environments (e.g., the riverine part). Bacterial community richness and diversity both exhibited significant spatial changes, and their seasonal variations were completely different in the two environments studied here. Furthermore, riverine bacterial community assemblages were subdivided into urban and rural groups due to changes in the nutritional state of the river. In addition, the nutrient-loving group including Limnohabitans, Hydrogenophaga, and Polynucleobacter were abundant in the urbanized Haihe River, indicating the environmental factors in these anthropogenic waterbodies heavily influence the core freshwater community composition.