TY - JOUR
T1 - Dynamics and determinants of amoeba community, occurrence and abundance in subtropical reservoirs and rivers
AU - Ren, Kexin
AU - Xue, Yuanyuan
AU - Rønn, Regin
AU - Liu, Lemian
AU - Chen, Huihuang
AU - Rensing, Christopher
AU - Yang, Jun
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Community composition
KW - High-throughput sequencing
KW - Plankton
KW - Protozoa
KW - Seasonal dynamics
U2 - 10.1016/j.watres.2018.09.011
DO - 10.1016/j.watres.2018.09.011
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 30243060
AN - SCOPUS:85054611060
SN - 0043-1354
VL - 146
SP - 177
EP - 186
JO - Water Research
JF - Water Research
ER -
