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Anthropogenic activities destabilized riverine bacterial communities by increasing synchrony between taxa

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Abstract

Previous studies suggested that strong positive correlations between microbial taxa destabilized the microbial communities, because high synchrony between taxa caused different taxa responded in tandem to the changes of environmental conditions. In this study, we used nutrient concentrations (nitrogen and phosphorus) as indicators for anthropogenic activities, and explored the effects of anthropogenic activities on the stability of bacterial communities in a subtropical river, Xiyuan River. We also used co-occurrence networks to indicate the synchrony between bacterial taxa. The nutrient concentrations were higher in the midstream and downstream areas than in the upstream area of Xiyuan River. As a result, the average proportion and correlation coefficient of positive correlations were higher in the midstream and downstream networks than in the upstream networks. This indicates that frequent anthropogenic activities increased the synchrony between taxa in the midstream and downstream communities, and therefore destabilized the bacterial communities. To further explore the mechanisms, we found that the changes of community stabilities associated with the changes of bacterial functions. Anthropogenic activity tolerant bacteria (e.g., nutrient removal, aromatic degradation and pathogen bacteria) and their linked bacterial taxa formed large and strong positive modules in the midstream and downstream networks, and thus destabilized the communities. Based on the perspective of microbial correlations, our results provide a new insight in the mechanisms of how anthropogenic activities alter riverine microbial communities.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31971469) and the Qishan Scholar Program of Fuzhou University (GXRC-20061).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technical Innovation Service Platform for High Value and High Quality Utilization of Marine Organism, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Lemian Liu, Shanshan Wang & Jianfeng Chen

  2. Fujian Engineering and Technology Research Center for Comprehensive Utilization of Marine Products Waste, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Lemian Liu, Shanshan Wang & Jianfeng Chen

  3. Fuzhou Industrial Technology Innovation Center for High Value Utilization of Marine Products, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Lemian Liu, Shanshan Wang & Jianfeng Chen

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  1. Lemian Liu
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  2. Shanshan Wang
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Contributions

LL and JC conceived the idea and designed the experiments. LL wrote the paper. SW and LL performed the experiments. LL and SW analyzed the data. JC and LL contributed the reagents/materials/analysis tools. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lemian Liu or Jianfeng Chen.

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Liu, L., Wang, S. & Chen, J. Anthropogenic activities destabilized riverine bacterial communities by increasing synchrony between taxa. Aquat Sci 83, 60 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00818-3

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