Dynamic and Assembly of Benthic Bacterial Community in an Industrial-Scale In-Pond Raceway Recirculating Culture System

Abstract

To reduce water utilization, limit environmental pollution, and guarantee aquatic production and quality, the in-pond raceway recirculating culture system (IPRS) has been developed and is widely used. The effectiveness and sustainability of IPRSs rely on a good understanding of the ecological processes related to bacterial communities in the purification area. In this study, we investigated the dynamics and assembly mechanisms of benthic bacterial communities in the purification area of an industrial-scale IRPS. We found significant temporal and spatial variations in the sediment characteristics and benthic bacterial communities of the IPRS, although correlation analyses revealed a very limited relationship between them. Among the different culture stages, we identified numerous benthic bacteria with different abundances. Abundances of the phyla Bacteroidota and Desulfobacterota decreased whereas those of Myxococcota and Gemmatimonadota increased as the culture cycle progressed. Co-occurrence networks revealed that the bacterial community was less complex but more stable in the IPRS at the final stage compared with the initial stage. The neutral community model (NCM) showed that stochastic processes were the dominant ecological processes shaping the assembly of the benthic bacterial community. The null model suggested that homogenizing dispersal was more powerful than dispersal limitation and drift in regulating the assembly of the community. These findings indicate that the benthic microbial communities in purification areas of the IPRS may not be affected by the deposited wastes, and a more stable benthic microbial communities were formed and mainly driven by stochastic processes. However, the benthic microbial communities in the purification area at the end of the culturing stage was characterized by potentially inhibited organic matter degradation and carbon and sulfur cycling abilities, which was not corresponding to the purification area’s function. From this point on, the IPRS, especially the purification area was needed to be further optimized and improved.