Temporal shifts in cyanobacterial communities at different sites on the Nakdong River in Korea

Abstract

The studies of cyanobacterial blooms resulting from eutrophication or climate change and investigation of changes in the cyanobacterial community in freshwater environments are critical for the management of drinking water. Therefore, we investigated the cyanobacterial communities at 6 sites along the Nakdong River in South Korea from May 2012 to October 2012 by using high-throughput sequencing techniques and studied their relationship with various geochemical factors at sampling sites. Diverse genera (total of 175 genera) were detected within the cyanobacteria, and changes in their compositions were analyzed. The genus Prochlorococcus predominated in the May samples, especially in those obtained from the upstream part of the river, whereas the relative abundance of Microcystis and Anabaena increased with increase in water temperature. The relationship between the cyanobacterial community and environmental factors was analyzed by canonical correlation analysis, and the correlation between harmful cyanobacteria and chemical factors was analyzed by nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination. Various environmental factors such as dissolved oxygen, pH, electric conductivity, temperature were found to affect the cyanobacterial communities in the river. The results of this study could help in the management of freshwater environments and in maintenance of drinking water quality.

Keywords: 16S rRNA gene; Cyanobacteria; Korean river; Pyrosequencing.