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Inter-basin water diversion homogenizes microbial communities mainly through stochastic assembly processes
1Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lake of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China.
Environmental Research
|February 14, 2023
Summary
Inter-basin water transfer homogenizes microbial communities by increasing habitat connectivity. Stochastic processes like dispersal and ecological drift shape these communities, with potential risks from introduced microbes.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Inter-basin water transfer optimizes water resources but has ecological effects.
- Microbial responses and community assembly processes during water diversion are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate microbial community patterns and assembly processes in varied hydrological connectivity habitats.
- Assess the ecological consequences of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project on microbial communities.
Main Methods:
- Compared microbial communities in isolated lakes, connected lakes, and canals.
- Utilized neutral and null models to analyze community assembly processes.
- Examined the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on microbial structure.
Main Results:
- Canal microbial communities exhibited higher diversity, lower dissimilarity, and stronger co-occurrence patterns.
- Increased hydrological connectivity led to microbial community homogenization.
- Stochastic processes, dispersal limitation, and variable selection were key assembly mechanisms.
- Biotic ecological succession, rather than abiotic factors, primarily drove variations in microbial structure.
Conclusions:
- Water diversion can homogenize microbial communities and reduce heterogeneity.
- Stochastic processes are crucial for microbial community assembly in these systems.
- Introduced taxa pose potential ecological risks alongside benefits to nutrient cycling.
