College of Marine Technology and Environment, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Coastal Ecosystem, National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian, 116023, China.
State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Coastal Ecosystem, National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian, 116023, China.
Mar Environ Res. 2024 Jun;198:106501. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106501. Epub 2024 Apr 9.
Benthic microbial communities play a crucial role in maintaining the stability and function of estuarine ecosystems. However, their organization and response to multiple stresses in severely disturbed coastal areas remains to be elucidated. In this study, we revealed the presence of contrasting benthic bacterial and fungal communities in the Liaohe (LH) and Yalujiang (YLJ) estuaries, which are located at similar latitudes and are characterized by similar climates but are subjected to different levels of anthropogenic pressure. The results showed that Firmicutes and Chloroflexi were more abundant in LH, which reflected the influence of anthropogenic pressure in this area. Functional analyses indicated that the functional genes involved in the generation of precursor metabolites and energy pathways were more enriched in the LH community, while genes regulating degradation/utilization/assimilation processes were more enriched in the YLJ community. Distance-dependent similarity analysis showed that the bacterial community in LH was more affected by environmental changes, while that in YLJ was more influenced by geographic dispersion. In contrast, no significant distance-dependent similarity was found for the fungal communities in the two areas. In addition, the network analysis showed that the bacterial-fungal network in YLJ was more complex and stable than that in the LH. Our results highlight the important roles of environmental heterogeneity in controlling microbial community composition, biogeographic patterns, and co-occurrence networks. These findings fill knowledge gaps in the understanding of the different response patterns of benthic communities under varying anthropogenic pressures.
底栖微生物群落对于维持河口生态系统的稳定性和功能至关重要。然而，它们在受到严重干扰的沿海地区的组织和对多种压力的响应仍有待阐明。在这项研究中，我们揭示了位于相似纬度、气候相似但受到不同程度人为压力影响的辽河（LH）和鸭绿江（YLJ）河口的底栖细菌和真菌群落存在明显差异。结果表明，LH 中厚壁菌门和绿弯菌门更为丰富，这反映了该地区人为压力的影响。功能分析表明，LH 群落中与前体代谢物和能量途径生成相关的功能基因更为丰富，而 YLJ 群落中与降解/利用/同化过程相关的基因更为丰富。距离依赖性相似性分析表明，LH 中的细菌群落受环境变化的影响更大，而 YLJ 中的细菌群落受地理分散的影响更大。相比之下，两个地区的真菌群落没有表现出明显的距离依赖性相似性。此外，网络分析表明，YLJ 中的细菌-真菌网络比 LH 中的更为复杂和稳定。我们的研究结果强调了环境异质性在控制微生物群落组成、生物地理格局和共生网络方面的重要作用。这些发现填补了对不同人为压力下底栖群落不同响应模式理解的知识空白。
