Properties of Biofilm Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Communities in a Representative Hypereutrophic Urban River

Abstract

1. Biofilms play an important role in nutrient and food web dynamics of shallow aquatic ecosystems. Multiple prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms within biofilms interact with each other to shape the community structure and their functional attributes. However, there is no clear understanding of varied patterns of biofilm prokaryotic versus eukaryotic microbial abundances, diversities and communities, which limit our understanding of how biofilm communities and functions in hypereutrophic urban river ecosystems are changing.
2. To elucidate the properties of biofilm communities and controls on biofilm communities in a hypereutrophic urban river, we conducted a one-year study to investigate the seasonal and water-depth variations on the abundance/biomass, diversity and structure of biofilm prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities. The structure and dynamics of biofilm prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities were determined by high-throughput sequencing based on the 16S and 18S rRNA gene.
3. Sequencing revealed that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota and Cyanobacteria were the three dominant phyla in biofilm prokaryotic communities, and Rotifera, Chlorophyta, Annelida and Bacillariophyta were the four dominant phyla in biofilm eukaryotic communities. Biofilm bacterial abundance depended mainly on the water temperature, whereas biofilm algal biomass correlated with rotifer grazing and light levels. Prokaryotic communities had higher species richness and diversity than eukaryotic communities. Species richness and diversity displayed significant seasonal variations with minima for prokaryotic communities in winter and eukaryotic communities in summer, which were linked to water temperature and rotifer grazing, respectively. Variations in biofilm prokaryotic and eukaryotic community composition were mainly related to ammonia concentration and water temperature, respectively. The co-occurrence network analysis suggested that rotifer grazing could considerably decrease the complexity of the biofilm network in summer, and the algal groups, especially for Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta, were the key to the formation of stable biofilm networks.
4. There were significant differences in seasonal and water-depth heterogeneity of biofilm prokaryotic and eukaryotic community composition. Our findings indicate that variations in water temperature, light level, rotifer grazing and nutrients (especially ammonia) appreciably contribute to changes in the abundance, diversity and composition of biofilm prokaryotic versus eukaryotic communities in the hypereutrophic urban river.
5. These findings increase our understanding of biofilm community characteristics in hypereutrophic urban rivers and provide insights for water pollution remediation strategies.