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Characterization of bacterial and microbial eukaryotic communities associated with an ephemeral hypoxia event in Taihu Lake, a shallow eutrophic Chinese lake

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Abstract

While the important roles of microbial communities in oceanic hypoxic zones were beginning to be understood, little is known about microbial community associated with this phenomenon in shallow lakes. To address this deficit, both the bacterial and microbial eukaryotic communities of an ephemeral hypoxic area of Taihu Lake were characterized. The hypoxia provided nutritional niches for various bacteria, which results in high abundance and diversity. Specific bacterial groups, such as vadinBC27 subgroup of Bacteroidetes, Burkholderiales, Rhodocyclales, Pseudomonas, and Parcubacteria, were dominated in hypoxic sites and relevant to the fermentation, denitrification, nitrification, and sulfur metabolism. Conversely, most of microbial eukaryotes disappeared along with the decline of DO. An unexpected dominance of fungi was observed during hypoxia, which partly explained by the accumulation of toxic algae. Mucor was the single dominant genus in the hypoxic zone. We proposed that this group might cooperate with bacterial communities in the anaerobic degradation of algal biomass and woody materials. Generally, the hypoxic microbiome in shallow lakes is mainly involved in fermentative metabolism depending on phytodetritus and is potentially influenced by terrestrial sources. This study provided new insights into the unique microbiome in short-term hypoxia in shallow lakes and lays the foundation for studies that will enhance our understanding of the microbial players associated with hypoxia and their adaption strategy on the global scale.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research for helping with sample collection and water chemical analysis.

Funding

This work was supported by the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (QYZDJ-SSW-DQC008), the National Water Pollution Control and Management of Science and Technology Major Projects (2017ZX07203-004), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41571462, 41621002, 41471040, 41501101, and 41661134036), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20151059).

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Correspondence to Guang Gao.

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Responsible editor: Boqiang Qin

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Cai, J., Bai, C., Tang, X. et al. Characterization of bacterial and microbial eukaryotic communities associated with an ephemeral hypoxia event in Taihu Lake, a shallow eutrophic Chinese lake. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 31543–31557 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2987-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2987-x

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