Dynamics and determinants of amoeba community, occurrence and abundance in subtropical reservoirs and rivers. (1st December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ren, Kexin; Xue, Yuanyuan; Rønn, Regin; Liu, Lemian; Chen, Huihuang; Rensing, Christopher; Yang, Jun
• Is Part Of: Water research. Volume 146(2018)
• Page Start: 177
• Page End: 186
• Publication Date: 2018-12-01
• Subjects: Protozoa -- Plankton -- High-throughput sequencing -- Community composition -- Seasonal dynamics; Water -- Pollution -- Research -- Periodicals; 363.7394
• DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.09.011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0043-1354

Abstract

Abstract: Free-living amoebae are widespread in freshwater ecosystems. Although many studies have investigated changes in their communities across space, the temporal variability and the drivers of community changes across different habitat types are poorly understood. A total of 108 surface water samples were collected on a seasonal basis from four reservoirs and two rivers in Xiamen city, subtropical China. We used high throughput sequencing and qPCR methods to explore the occurrence and abundance of free-living amoebae. In total, 335 amoeba OTUs were detected, and only 32 OTUs were shared by reservoir and river habitats. The reservoirs and rivers harbored unique amoebae communities and exhibited distinct seasonal patterns in community composition. High abundance of the 18S rRNA gene of Acanthamoeba was observed in spring and summer, whereas the abundance was low in autumn and winter. In addition, the abundance of Hartmannella was significantly higher when isolated from reservoirs in summer/autumn and from river in spring/summer. Moreover, the temporal patterns of amoebae communities were significantly associated with water temperature, indicating that temperature is an important variable controlling the ecological dynamics of amoebae populations. However, our comparative analysis indicated that both environmental selection, and neutral processes, significantly contributed to amoeba community assembly. The genera detected here include pathogenic species and species that can act as vectors for microbial pathogens, which can cause human infections. Graphical abstract: Highlights: The habitat pattern prevails over seasonal change of amoebae community composition. The amoebae abundance is higher in summer than winter. Water temperature, turbidity and nutrients shape the amoebae community assembly. Amoebae community exhibits stronger stochastic processes in reservoir than river.