Methylparaben changes the community composition, structure, and assembly processes of free-living bacteria, phytoplankton, and zooplankton

Parabens are common contaminants in river and lake environments. However, few studies have been conducted to determine the effects of parabens on bacteria, phytoplankton, and zooplankton communities in aquatic environments. In this study, the effect of methylparaben (MP) on the diversity and community structure of the aquatic plankton microbiome was investigated by incubating a microcosm with MP at 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 μg/L for 7 days. The results of the Simpson index showed that MP treatment altered the α-diversity of free-living bacteria (FL), phytoplankton, and zooplankton but had no significant effect on the α-diversity of particle-attached bacteria (PA). Further, the relative abundances of the sensitive bacteria Chitinophaga and Vibrionimonas declined after MP addition. Moreover, the relative abundances of Desmodesmus sp. HSJ717 and Scenedesmus armatus, of the phylum Chlorophyta, were significantly lower in the MP treatment group than in the control group. In addition, the relative abundance of Stoeckeria sp. SSMS0806, of the Dinophyta phylum, was higher than that in the control group. MP addition also increased the relative abundance of Arthropoda but decreased the relative abundance of Rotifera and Ciliophora. The β-diversity analysis showed that FL and phytoplankton communities were clustered separately after treatment with different MP concentrations. MP addition changed community assembly mechanisms in the microcosm, including increasing the stochastic processes for FL and the deterministic processes for PA and phytoplankton. Structural equation modeling analysis showed a significant negative relationship between bacteria richness and phytoplankton richness, and a significant positive relationship between phytoplankton (richness and community composition) and zooplankton. Overall, this study emphasizes that MP, at environmental concentrations, can change the diversity and structure of plankton microbial communities, which might have a negative effect on ecological systems.