Can dispersions be used for discriminating water quality status in coastal ecosystems? A case study on biofilm-dwelling microbial eukaryotes
Introduction
Biofilm-dwelling microbial eukaryotes are the primary components of a biofilm or microperiphyton communities, and employ a vital role in the functioning of microbial food webs in aquatic ecosystems (Gold et al., 2002, Norf et al., 2009, Risse-Buhl and Küsel, 2009, Xu et al., 2012). Phototrophic microalgae (mainly benthic diatoms) devote the primary production (Xu et al., 2008, Debenest et al., 2009, Duong et al., 2010, Xu et al., 2012), whereas the heterotrophic protozoa act as variety of trophic-functional consumers, such as bacterivores, algivores, raptors and non-selectives, and transfer the flux of both elements and energy from pico- and nano-plankton to benthos (Fischer et al., 2002, Kathol et al., 2009, Norf et al., 2009, Xu et al., 2011, Xu et al., 2014a). Both structural and functional variations in the microbial eukaryote communities may significantly influence the ecological equilibrium of the aquatic food web, especially the community structures of metazoa (Patterson et al., 1989, Norf et al., 2009, Xu et al., 2012, Xu et al., 2014a). Otherwise, microbial eukaryotes play an important function in maintaining and improving water quality due to their high tolerance to the extreme environmental conditions and inhabit biotopes compared to metazoa (Patterson et al., 1989, Coppellotti and Matarazzo, 2000, Xu et al., 2008). Furthermore, with their short generation times, sensitivity to environmental changes, they have widely been used as useful bioindicators of water quality in aquatic biotopes (Khatoon et al., 2007, Dorigo et al., 2009, Dorigo et al., 2010, Morin et al., 2010, Xu et al., 2012, Xu et al., 2014a, Xu et al., 2014b, Zhong et al., 2014).
As a broad β-diversity, multivariate dispersion is a robust ecological measure to discriminate the heterogeneity within groups of communities in response to the environmental changes (Anderson et al., 2006, Anderson et al., 2008). Compared to the univariate β-diversity index, the dispersion analysis is performed in a multivariate way, and has a capacity of signifying the differences among samples. Several studies on macrobenthic assemblages have demonstrated that the multivariate dispersion is a robust ecological indicator of environmental heterogeneity (Ellingsen and Gray, 2002, Anderson et al., 2006, Xu et al., 2015). However, with regards the feasibility of multivariate dispersion for bioassessment of water quality status using biofilm-dwelling microbial eukaryotes in aquatic ecosystems, little information was known.
In our study, the multivariate dispersions of the biofilm-dwelling microbial eukaryote communities and their relationships to environmental changes were investigated based on a dataset from a coastal area within a gradient of environmental contamination of the Yellow Sea, northern China. The purpose of this study was focused on: (1) exploring the dispersions of the microbial assemblages in the areas at two numerical (species abundance and occurrence) resolutions, and (2) determining the feasibility of multivariate dispersions for assessing water quality status in marine ecosystems, using biofilm-dwelling microbial eukaryotes.
Section snippets
Dataset collection
The dataset of biofilm-dwelling microbial eukaryotes was obtained for both community research and monitoring programs, which was collected from coastal areas within a gradient of environmental contamination of the Yellow Sea, near Qingdao, northern China (Fig. 1). A title of 40 data points were collected monthly, using an artificial substratum (glass slides) method, at four sampling stations during the period of August 2011–July 2012 (Fig. 1, A–D).
Sample processing was conducted according to
Environmental variables
The average values of environmental variables at the four sampling stations are summarized in Table S1. Among the 11 measurements, the values of pH ranged around 8.3, with the minimum at station A and the maximum at station D. The transparency and DO showed an increasing trend, while the values of NH4-N decreased along the gradient of stress (from station A–D). Concentrations of NO3-N, SPR and SiO3-Si, were low at stations C and D, and high at station A and B (Table S1). The lowest
Discussion
Similar study on macrobenthic assemblages on the Norwegian continental shelf has demonstrated that multivariate dispersion was positively related to environmental heterogeneity (Ellingsen and Gray, 2002). In this study, in terms of both species composition and community structure, the biofilm-dwelling microbial eukaryote communities represented a clear spatial variation along the gradient of environmental contamination in coastal waters of the Yellow Sea, northern China. Mantel analysis
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by “The Natural Science Foundation of China” (project number: 41076089), and Scholarship Award for Excellent Doctoral Student granted by Chinese Ministry of Education.
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