Boden Lisa, Bludau Dana, Sieber Guido, Deep Aman, Baikova Daria, David Gwendoline M, Hadžiomerović Una, Stach Tom L, Buchner Dominik, Boenigk Jens
Department Biodiversity, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Centre for Water and Environmental Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Environ Microbiol. 2025 Sep;27(9):e70173. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.70173.
Microbial communities play a crucial role in the functioning of freshwater ecosystems but are continuously threatened by climate change and anthropogenic activities. Elevated temperatures and salinisation are particularly challenging for freshwater habitats, but little is known about how microbial communities respond to the simultaneous exposure to these stressors. Here, we use mesocosm experiments and amplicon sequencing data to investigate the responses of pelagic and benthic microbial communities to temperature and salinity increases, both individually and in combination. Our results highlight the varying responses of freshwater microbial communities, with sediment communities exhibiting greater stability in response to environmental changes compared to water column communities, and salinisation having a more pronounced impact on microeukaryotes compared to prokaryotes. Simultaneous exposure to elevated temperature and salinity reduced the impact of salinisation on prokaryotes, while microeukaryotes were similarly affected by the combined treatments and salinisation alone. These findings emphasise the complexity of microbial responses to single and multiple stressors, underscoring the need to consider both individual and interactive effects when predicting ecosystem responses to environmental changes.
微生物群落对淡水生态系统的功能起着至关重要的作用，但却不断受到气候变化和人为活动的威胁。温度升高和盐碱化对淡水栖息地尤其具有挑战性，但对于微生物群落如何应对同时暴露于这些压力源的情况，我们却知之甚少。在此，我们利用中宇宙实验和扩增子测序数据，分别以及联合研究浮游和底栖微生物群落对温度升高和盐度增加的反应。我们的结果凸显了淡水微生物群落的不同反应，与水柱群落相比，沉积物群落对环境变化的反应表现出更大的稳定性，并且与原核生物相比，盐碱化对微型真核生物的影响更为显著。同时暴露于升高的温度和盐度下，降低了盐碱化对原核生物的影响，而微型真核生物受到联合处理和单独盐碱化处理的影响相似。这些发现强调了微生物对单一和多种压力源反应的复杂性，突出了在预测生态系统对环境变化的反应时，需要同时考虑个体效应和交互效应。
