Responses of Bacterial Taxonomical Diversity Indicators to Pollutant Loadings in Experimental Wetland Microcosms

Urbanization results in higher stormwater loadings of pollutants such as metals and nutrients into surface waters. This directly impacts organisms in aquatic ecosystems, including microbes. Sediment microbes are known for pollution reduction in the face of contamination, making bacterial communities an important area for bioindicator research. This study explores the pattern of bacterial responses to metal and nutrient pollution loading and seeks to evaluate whether bacterial indicators can be effective as a biomonitoring risk assessment tool for wetland ecosystems. Microcosms were built containing sediments collected from wetlands in the urbanizing Pike River watershed in southeastern Wisconsin, USA, with metals and nutrients added at 7 day intervals. Bacterial DNA was extracted from the microcosm sediments, and taxonomical profiles of bacterial communities were identified up to the genera level by sequencing 16S bacterial rRNA gene (V3–V4 region). Reduction of metals (example: 90% for Pb) and nutrients (example: 98% for NO3−) added in water were observed. The study found correlations between diversity indices of genera with metal and nutrient pollution as well as identified specific genera (including Fusibacter, Aeromonas, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Bdellovibrio, and Chlorobium) as predictive bioindicators for ecological risk assessment for metal pollution.

Limited progress in nutrient pollution in the U.S. caused by spatially persistent nutrient sources

Human agriculture, wastewater, and use of fossil fuels have saturated ecosystems with nitrogen and phosphorus, threatening biodiversity and human water security at a global scale. Despite efforts to reduce nutrient pollution, carbon and nutrient concentrations have increased or remained high in many regions. Here, we applied a new ecohydrological framework to ~12,000 water samples collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from streams and lakes across the contiguous U.S. to identify spatial and temporal patterns in nutrient concentrations and leverage (an indicator of flux). For the contiguous U.S. and within ecoregions, we quantified trends for sites sampled repeatedly from 2000 to 2019, the persistence of spatial patterns over that period, and the patch size of nutrient sources and sinks. While we observed various temporal trends across ecoregions, the spatial patterns of nutrient and carbon concentrations in streams were persistent across and within ecoregions, potentially because of historical nutrient legacies, consistent nutrient sources, and inherent differences in nutrient removal capacity for various ecosystems. Watersheds showed strong critical source area dynamics in that 2–8% of the land area accounted for 75% of the estimated flux. Variability in nutrient contribution was greatest in catchments smaller than 250 km2 for most parameters. An ensemble of four machine learning models confirmed previously observed relationships between nutrient concentrations and a combination of land use and land cover, demonstrating how human activity and inherent nutrient removal capacity interactively determine nutrient balance. These findings suggest that targeted nutrient interventions in a small portion of the landscape could substantially improve water quality at continental scales. We recommend a dual approach of first prioritizing the reduction of nutrient inputs in catchments that exert disproportionate influence on downstream water chemistry, and second, enhancing nutrient removal capacity by restoring hydrological connectivity both laterally and vertically in stream networks.

Nutrient Pollution and Its Dynamic Source-Sink Pattern in the Pearl River Estuary (South China)

Nutrient enrichment and its quantitative cause-effect chains of the biogeochemical processes have scarcely been documented in the Pearl River Estuary (South China). Field investigations of nutrient samples taken between 1996 and 2018 showed significant differences in nitrogen and phosphorus with times and sites. The concentrations of DIN and DIP gradually increased over the past two decades, with good fitted linear curves (R2 = 0.31 for DIN, R2 = 0.92 for DIP); while the temporal variation in DSi was non-significant. Higher levels of nitrogen and silicate mainly appeared in the upper estuary because of the riverine influence. The phosphorus pollution was accumulated in the northeast (e.g., Shenzhen bay). The aquatic environment was highly sensitive to nutrient pollution and eutrophication risk, which accordingly corresponded to high phytoplankton production and biodiversity. Phosphorus was the limiting factor of phytoplankton growth in this estuary, and more frequently caused the eutrophication risks and blooms. The nutrient pollution was largely influenced by riverine inputs, quantified by PCA-generation, and the contributions of coastal emission and atmospheric deposition were followed. The two-end member mixing model differentiated the physical alterations from the biological activity and identified the dynamic source-sink patterns of nutrient species. Nitrogen and silicate had relatively conservative behaviors in the estuary and phosphate showed an active pattern.

Nutrient Enrichment Predominantly Affects Low Diversity Microbiomes in a Marine Trophic Symbiosis between Algal Farming Fish and Corals

While studies show that nutrient pollution shifts reef trophic interactions between fish, macroalgae, and corals, we know less about how the microbiomes associated with these organisms react to such disturbances. To investigate how microbiome dynamics are affected during nutrient pollution, we exposed replicate Porites lobata corals colonized by the fish Stegastes nigricans, which farm an algal matrix on the coral, to a pulse of nutrient enrichment over a two-month period and examined the microbiome of each partner using 16S amplicon analysis. We found 51 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) shared among the three hosts. Coral microbiomes had the lowest diversity with over 98% of the microbiome dominated by a single genus, Endozoicomonas. Fish and algal matrix microbiomes were ~20 to 70× more diverse and had higher evenness compared to the corals. The addition of nutrients significantly increased species richness and community variability between samples of coral microbiomes but not the fish or algal matrix microbiomes, demonstrating that coral microbiomes are less resistant to nutrient pollution than their trophic partners. Furthermore, the 51 common ASVs within the 3 hosts indicate microbes that may be shared or transmitted between these closely associated organisms, including Vibrionaceae bacteria, many of which can be pathogenic to corals.

Modelling of Nutrient Pollution Dynamics in River Basins: A Review with a Perspective of a Distributed Modelling Approach

Nutrient pollution is one of the major issues in water resources management, which has drawn significant investments into the development of many modelling tools to solve pollution problems worldwide. However, the situation remains unchanged, even likely to be exacerbated due to population growth and climate change. Effective measures to alleviate the issues are essential, dependent upon existing modelling tools’ capacities. More complex models have been developed with technological advancement, though applications are mainly limited to academic reach. Hence, there is a need for a paradigm shift in policymaking that looks for a reliable modelling approach. This paper aims to assess the capacity of existing modelling tools in the context of process-based modelling and provide a future direction in research. The article has categorically divided models into plot scale to basin-wide applications for evaluation and discussed the pros and cons of conceptual and process-based modelling. The potential benefits of distributed modelling approach have been elaborated with highlights of a newly developed distributed model and its application in catchments in Japan and Australia. The distributed model is more adequate for predicting the realistic details of pollution problems in a changing environment. Future research needs to focus on more process-based modelling.

An assessment of the light and nutrient regimes constraining phytoplankton dynamics in Missouri reservoirs

Worldwide, nutrient pollution, or eutrophication, is one of the most pervasive environmental issues threatening water quality. Anthropogenic influences, primarily urbanization and agriculture, have drastically increased inputs of bioavailable nutrients to surface water resources, such as lakes and reservoirs. Excessive phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) in these waters amplify the growth of suspended algae, or phytoplankton, resulting in unsightly, sometimes odorous, cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) that further degrade water quality and potentially endanger human and animal health. As global climate change increases surface water temperatures, promotes water column stability, and drives down bottom-water oxygen concentrations, environmental conditions are also becoming more favorable for CyanoHABs. With eutrophication prevailing and CyanoHABs increasing in frequency, intensity, and distribution around the globe, I seek to further understand the role of light and nutrients as limiting agents for phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity across Midwestern reservoirs. I utilize numerous lines of evidence to create a robust assessment exploring the influences of climate, eutrophication, and land-use on the proximate light and nutrient status of phytoplankton in 32 Missouri reservoirs. Through observation and experimentation, deficiencies of light, P, and N are evaluated using general indicators of water quality and physiological stress, including mixed layer irradiance, nutrient stoichiometry/debts, photosynthetic efficiency, and the photosynthetic-irradiance (P-E) parameters. Ultimately, I determine if phytoplankton biomass and productivity are constrained by light, P, N, or a combination thereof, across gradients of trophic status and land-use within the context of two contrasting wet and dry summers. As expected, higher proportions of agricultural land-use correspond with higher total in-reservoir nutrient concentrations. Despite agricultural prevalence, however, bioavailable N concentrations in the mixed layer are, overall, relatively low. Yet, P-deficiency is more prominent than either N- or light-deficiency. For the 2018 season, I estimate nearly half of all samples to be P-deficient, with fewer than 20 percent suggesting alternative deficiency or co-deficiency combinations, and approximately one-third indicating sufficiency in both light and nutrients. Primary productivity demonstrates negative relationships with nutrients, biomass, and turbidity, and positive relationships with light. Thus, productivity is highest in clear, low-nutrient reservoirs where light utilization efficiency is also highest. Overall, in Missouri reservoirs, phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity are constrained by P and light, respectively. If current conditions in Missouri reservoirs are at all indicative of those to come as surface waters are further affected by climate change and eutrophication, both P and light will be important regulators of phytoplankton dynamics and subsequent water quality. Contributing to the ongoing P vs NP nutrient management debate, these results both support and challenge aspects of the traditional P-paradigm of limitation on phytoplankton dynamics. It underscores the importance of P control in reservoirs, while offering support for additional consideration of light and N. Having critical implications for watershed management throughout the region, these results are particularly useful within watersheds experiencing high agricultural nutrient loading. Results inform resource managers seeking to employ more effective strategies to control phytoplankton biomass, avoiding harmful regime shifts and CyanoHAB development. Additionally, results may inform lawmakers and regulators developing policies and standards to mitigate nutrient pollution and its effects on water quality at the local, regional, and, potentially, global scales.