Combined impacts of algae-induced variations in water soluble organic matter and heavy metals on bacterial community structure in sediment from Chaohu Lake, a eutrophic shallow lake

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2023-05, Vol.874, p.162481-162481, Article 162481
• Main Authors: Wang, Yulai, Gu, Wanqing, Liu, Xin, Liu, Hui, Tang, Gui, Yang, Changming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae-derived organic matter; bacterial communities; Bacterial community structure; chemical species; Chemical species of heavy metal; China; community structure; environment; Eutrophication; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; lakes; Lakes - chemistry; Metals, Heavy - analysis; Metals, Heavy - toxicity; organic matter; risk; sediments; variance; Variance partitioning analysis; Water - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; water solubility
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162481

Many lakes are suffering from eutrophication and heavy metals-contamination. However, the combined impacts of algae bloom and its induced variations in heavy metals on microbial community in sediment from eutrophic lakes remain unclear. In this study, we performed field experiments to investigate how algae bloom impacted water soluble organic matter (WSOM) and heavy metals in sediment from Chaohu Lake, a eutrophic shallow lake, and probed their combined impacts on sediment bacterial community structure. The results showed that algae bloom increased WSOM quantity, in particular, the soluble microbial by-product-like (SMP) and fulvic acid-like (Fa-L) components markedly enhanced by 203.70 % and 70.17 %, respectively. We also found that algae bloom redistributed the spatial patterns of heavy metals and altered their chemical species in sediment, then promoted contamination degree and potential ecological risk of heavy metals in sediment. Moreover, sediment bacterial community richness and diversity obviously decreased after algae bloom, and the variance partitioning analysis (VPA) results showed that combined impacts of algae-induced changes in WSOM and heavy metals explained 66.56 % of the variations in bacterial community structure. These findings depicted how algae bloom influence sediment WSOM and heavy metals, and revealed the combined impacts of algae-induced variations on microbial community structure in shallow eutrophic lake. [Display omitted] •Algae bloom significantly increased sediment WSOM quantity in shallow eutrophic lake.•WSOM varied the distribution and speciation of heavy metals, and enhanced their contamination degree.•Sediment bacterial community richness and diversity markedly decreased in Chaohu Lake after algae bloom.•66.56% of variations in sediment bacteria community was combined impacted by WSOM and heavy metals.