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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Aquatic Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1424277

Effects of season and water quality on community structure of planktonic eukaryotes in the Chaohu Lake basin

Provisionally accepted
Yan Zhang Yan Zhang 1*Maozhen Han Maozhen Han 2Guoao Ding Guoao Ding 1Liu Kai Liu Kai 1Kui He Kui He 1Jingqiu Zhao Jingqiu Zhao 1Yiwen Liao Yiwen Liao 1Cui Zhang Cui Zhang 1Li Wu Li Wu 1
  • 1 Hefei Normal University, Sanxiaokou, China
  • 2 Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Analyzing the correlation between planktonic eukaryotic communities (PECs) and aquatic physicochemical parameters (APPs) provides important references for predicting the impact of climate change and human activities on aquatic ecosystems.To assess the influence of seasons and APPs on PEC structures in lakes and rivers, we utilized high-throughput sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene to analyze PEC structures in a lake and seven rivers in the Chaohu Lake Basin and analyzed their correlations with APPs. Our results revealed that PEC structure was significantly affected by season, with the highest α-diversity observed in summer. Furthermore, we identified several APPs, including water temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, phosphate, total phosphorus, trophic level index (TLI), nitrate, ammonia nitrogen, and total nitrogen, that significantly influenced PEC structures. Specifically, we found thatStephanodiscus hantzschii, Simocephalus serrulatus, Cryptomonas sp. CCAC_0109, Pedospumella encystans, Actinochloris sphaerica, Chlamydomonas angulosa, Gonyostomum semen, Skeletonema potamos, Chlamydomonas klinobasis, Pedospumella sp., and Neochlorosarcina negevensis were significantly correlated to TLI, while Limnoithona tetraspina, Theileria sp., and Pseudophyllomitus vesiculosus were significantly correlated to the water quality index (WQI). However, our random forest regression analysis using the top 100 species was unable to accurately predict the WQI and TLI. These results provide valuable data for evaluating the impact of APPs on PEC and for protecting water resource in the Chaohu Lake Basin.

    Keywords: Aquatic ecosystem, aquatic physicochemical parameters, Chaohu Lake Basin, environmental DNA, eukaryotic plankton community

    Received: 29 Apr 2024; Accepted: 22 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Han, Ding, Kai, He, Zhao, Liao, Zhang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yan Zhang, Hefei Normal University, Sanxiaokou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.