The variation of microbiological characteristics in surface waters during persistent precipitation

doi:10.1007/s11783-024-1871-9

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2024, Vol. 18

Issue (9) : 111 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1871-9

The variation of microbiological characteristics in surface waters during persistent precipitation

Xinyan Xiao^1,², Chenlan Chen^1,², Haoran Li^1,², Lihua Li^1,², Xin Yu^1,²(

)

¹. College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
². Fujian Key Laboratory of Coastal Pollution Prevention and Control, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China

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Abstract

● The maximum coliforms concentration increased by 2 Logs during rainfall.

● Culturable bacterial concentrations had a delayed increase during precipitation.

● DOC concentration was the main impact factor for the microbial characteristics.

● Culturable bacteria concentrations in waters could recover to pre-rainfall levels.

Climate change leads to an increase in both the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation. Surface runoff generated by extreme precipitation has a significant impact on water. However, the impact of persistent precipitation on surface water quality is easy to neglect, due to its prolonged duration and lower-intensity rainfall. This study established eight sampling points within selected surface waters to observe the variation of microbial characteristics in a typical persistence precipitation event. The primary difference between Furong Lake (FL) and Chengqian Reservoir (CR) was: the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were 21.3 ± 0.7 and 8.3 ± 1.5 mg/L in FL and CR, respectively. The concentrations of R2A culturable bacteria and coliforms were 10^4.57 and 10^1.58 colony-forming units (CFU)/mL in FL, and were 10^5.46 and 10^2.64 CFU/mL in CR, respectively. During precipitation, the maximum increase concentrations of R2A, NA culturable bacteria, and coliforms were 10^0.75, 10^1.30, and 10^2.27 CFU/mL in FL, respectively. Furthermore, microbial concentration and rainfall did not increase simultaneously, and a delay phenomenon was observed in the increasing microbial concentrations. Through analyzing the concentration change trends and correlation of various water quality indicators during persistent precipitation, the significant correlation between the DOC concentration and the changes in the dominant species of microbial community structure was found in this study (p < 0.05). For example, as the DOC concentration declined, the abundance of hgcl_clade and CL500-29_marine_group increased. Consequently, although persistent precipitation might not obviously alter the water quality visibly, it could still pose potential microbial risks.

Keywords Rainfall Dissolved organic carbon Culturable bacteria Water quality Microbial community structure Climate change

Corresponding Author(s): Xin Yu

Issue Date: 27 June 2024

Cite this article:

Xinyan Xiao,Chenlan Chen,Haoran Li, et al. The variation of microbiological characteristics in surface waters during persistent precipitation[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2024, 18(9): 111.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-024-1871-9
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2024/V18/I9/111

Fig.1 The arrangement of sampling sites P1–P8. The sampling area was divided into Furong Lake and Chengqian Reservoir, which was separated by an overflow weir.

Fig.2 The violin plots exhibited the variations of water quality in Furong Lake (FL) and Chengqian Reservoir (CR) on the first Day (1 Day), the last day (15 Days), and the third day (18 Days) after the persistent precipitation, encompassing physicochemical indicators (a–g) and microbial indicators (h–l). The width of the plots represented the data density, and the shape illustrated the overall distribution. The significant differences among the three stages were analyzed by the Bonferroni test.

Fig.3 The changeable trend of the microbial and main physicochemical parameters (DOC, TN, and TP) of Furong Lake (a–c) and Chengqian Reservoir (d–f) during the persistent precipitation. The concentrations of water quality parameters were averaged across all sampling points within the water body. The error bars represent the standard deviations of the individual sampling points in both water bodies.

Fig.4 The correlation between rainfall and water quality parameters in Furong Lake (a) and Chengqian Reservoir (b), and the principal component analysis (PCA) of both water bodies (c). The t-test was used for significance analysis. In the PCA plot, the blue and red data dots represented the scores of sampling points from the two water bodies in PC1 and PC2, respectively. The loadings (arrows) indicated the relationships between water quality indicators and PC1 and PC2.

Fig.5 The species relative abundance of phylum level (a) and genus level (b) in Furong Lake (FL) and Chengqian Reservoir (CR) during different rainfall stages (the first day, the fifteenth days, and the eighteenth days), and analysis of the operational taxonomic units of Furong Lake (c) and Chengqian Reservoir (d).

Fig.6 Spearman analyzed the correlation of environmental factors with species at phyla level (a) and genus level (b).

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