Recruitment-promoting of dormant Microcystis aeruginosa by three benthic bacterial species

Abstract The frequent occurrence of Microcystis aeruginosa blooms benefit from the dormant Microcystis cells, which will be recruited from sediment into overlying water to form a dominant population and algal blooms when external environmental conditions are suitable. Previous studies have unveiled factors involved in M. aeruginosa recruitment and bloom initiation, including nutrition, illumination, temperature, and hydrodynamic force. In this study, three dominant benthic bacterial species isolated from Lake Chongtian with frequent blooms-forming were identified through next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques, and laboratory experiments were conducted on the recruitment of dormant M. aeruginosa cells via co-culture with these bacteria at 10 °C, 15 °C, 20 °C and 25 °C. The results showed that the bacterial strains in sediment proliferated quickly before recruitment of dormant M. aeruginosa cells, subsequently significantly promoted the recruitment of dormant M. aeruginosa via allelochemical (metabolite) production, lower N:P values and lower dissolved oxygen concentrations in the sediment-water interface, and enhanced photosynthesis of M. aeruginosa cells. Furthermore, dormant M. aeruginosa was recruited from sediment at 10 °C when bacterial activity was present, but not recruited when bacterial activity was absent. At 15 °C,20 °Cand 25 °C, there were no remarkable differences in the recruitment rate of dormant M. aeruginosa cells among all bacterial groups, although their recruitment rate were significantly higher than that at 10 °C.These findings suggested that, under laboratory conditions, three benthic bacteria not only had a great influence on promoting the recruitment of dormant M. aeruginosa cells under desirable temperatures, but also can spur recruitment of dormant M. aeruginosa cells from sediment at lower temperature (10 °C).