Short-term bacterial community composition dynamics in response to accumulation and breakdown of Microcystis blooms

Short-term bacterial community composition (BCC) dynamics in response to accumulation and breakdown of Microcystis blooms were examined by conducting in situ mesocosm experiments with varying levels of Microcystis sp. biomass, ranging from 15 to 3217 μg/L as measured by chlorophyll-a concentration in the freshwater water column. The BCC was assessed by means of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of 16S ribosomal RNA genes followed by cloning and sequencing of selected samples. The results showed that the composition of both free-living and particle-attached bacterial communities changed during the accumulation and breakdown phases of a Microcystis bloom, and differences were also evident with different levels of Microcystis biomass. The relative abundance of bacteria affiliated with Micrococcineae and Legionellales increased in general after amendment with Microcystis. Significant correlation between the relative abundance of Micrococcineae and breakdown of Microcystis biomass was also observed. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the changes in the free-living and particle-attached bacterial community were mostly related to the changes in the concentrations of chlorophyll-a, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH, which were mainly induced by the breakdown of Microcystis biomass. Overall, our study revealed the following: i) accumulation of Microcystis blooms and their breakdown have strong impacts on bacterial community composition; ii) there might be saprophytic association between Micrococcineae and decomposition of Microcystis biomass; iii) it is necessary to reveal potential associations between Legionellales organisms and Microcystis blooms in eutrophic freshwater lakes.

Research highlights
► We examine bacterial diversity and abundance in response to Microcystis blooms.
► The blooms significantly increase bacterial abundances.
► Legionellales organisms are abundant during accumulation of the blooms.
► Micrococcineae organisms are associated with decomposition of Microcystis biomass.