Microbial diversity and long-term geochemical trends in the euxinic zone of a marine, meromictic lake

Milan Čanković, Jurica Žučko, Iris Dupčić Radić, Ivica Janeković, Ines Petrić, Irena Ciglenečki, Gavin Collins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Hypoxic and anoxic niches of meromictic lakes are important sites for studying the microbial ecology of conditions resembling ancient Earth. The expansion and increasing global distribution of such environments also means that information about them serves to understand future phenomena. In this study, a long-term chemical dataset (1996–2015) was explored together with seasonal (in 2015) information on the diversity and abundance of bacterial and archaeal communities residing in the chemocline, monimolimnion and surface sediment of the marine meromictic Rogoznica Lake. The results of quantitative PCR assays, and high-throughput sequencing, targeting 16S rRNA genes and transcripts, revealed a clear vertical structure of the microbial community with Gammaproteobacteria (Halochromatium) and cyanobacteria (Synechococcus spp.) dominating the chemocline, Deltaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes dominating the monimolimnion, and significantly more abundant archaeal populations in the surface sediment, most of which affiliated to Nanoarchaeota. Seasonal changes in the community structure and abundance were not pronounced. Diversity in Rogoznica Lake was found to be high, presumably as a consequence of stable environmental conditions accompanied by high dissolved carbon and nutrient concentrations. Long-term data indicated that Rogoznica Lake exhibited climate changes that could alter its physico-chemical features and, consequently, induce structural and physiological changes within its microbial community.

Original languageEnglish
Article number126016
JournalSystematic and Applied Microbiology
Volume42
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2019

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Microbial diversity and long-term geochemical trends in the euxinic zone of a marine, meromictic lake'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this