Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9451605 | Chemosphere | 2005 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
In order to investigate the role of the microbial community in aquatic ecology and nutrient transformations in the development of eutrophication in large shallow freshwater lakes along Yangtze River, the microbial community in the depth-related sediment in Lake Chaohu and Lake Longganhu were compared. Lake Chaohu is one of the three most polluted lakes in China. However, the neighboring Lake Longganhu, a mesotrophic lake, is relatively pristine. The total phosphorous (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) concentration in water was detected at 0.193 mg lâ1 and 3.035 mg lâ1 for Lake Chaohu, 0.051 mg lâ1 and 0.774 mg lâ1 for Lake Longganhu, respectively. The population of the microorganisms with various ecological nutrient transforming functions (e.g. phosphate solubilizing, denitrifying and cellulose decomposing) and a batch of environmental parameters concerning the nutrient accumulating and transforming (e.g. total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous concentrations) were assayed in the depth-related sediment samples from several defined points in both lakes. The sediment samples from Lake Chaohu showed higher density of actinomycetes (P < 0.05) and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (P < 0.001) and less profusion of denitrifying bacteria (P < 0.05) and cellulolytic microbes (P < 0.001), compared with those of Lake Longganhu. The data suggested that the current microbial community in the sediment of Lake Chaohu is in favor of sustaining or further accelerating the process of the lake eutrophication. A possible positive feedback loop which consists of sustained growth of microorganisms and gradual decline of lake eutrophic status is worth further discussing.
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Authors
Yong Tong, Guofang Lin, Xin Ke, Fuping Liu, Guangwei Zhu, Guang Gao, Jianhua Shen,