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Effects of nitrogen forms and supply modes on colony formation in Microcystis aeruginosa

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Abstract

Microcystis blooms can lead to a decline in water quality and ecological damage, and pose risks to human health. Therefore, studies on the mechanisms of Microcystis colony formation and bloom occurrence are of great significance for the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, Microcystis aeruginosa was cultured with nitrate, ammonium, or urea as the nitrogen source in the medium to investigate the effects of nitrogen forms on colony formation. Nitrogen was added as a single dose or in multiple doses to determine the effect of the nitrogen supply modes on colony formation. Compared with urea, nitrate significantly stimulated the growth of M. aeruginosa while ammonium inhibited growth. Among the three nitrogen forms, ammonium resulted in the highest concentrations of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN). Colonies larger than 10 μm were significantly promoted in the ammonium treatment. Cells were generally smaller in the nitrate treatment than in the ammonium and urea treatments. The extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) contents were lower in the nitrate and urea treatments than in the ammonium treatments. Within the same nitrogen form, there was little difference in growth and colony formation between the single-dose and multiple-dose treatments. Our results demonstrated that ammonium significantly promoted M. aeruginosa colony formation, and that the nitrogen supply mode did not affect colony formation in M. aeruginosa.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51409216) and Special Funds Projects for Control Water Pollution in Lake Taihu, Section Ten (Grant No. JSZC-G2016-198), the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities (Northwest A&F University, Grant No. 2452015049), the scientific research and service platform fund of Henan Province (2016151), and the funding from scientific and technological innovation team of water ecological security for Water Source Region of Mid-line of South-to-North Diversion Project of Henan Province (17454).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, People’s Republic of China

    Zhi Qu, Miaomiao Zhao & Ming Li

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Water Security for Water Source Region of Mid-line of South-to-North Diversion Project, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang, Henan Province, People’s Republic of China

    Pengfei Duan & Ming Li

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  1. Zhi Qu
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  2. Miaomiao Zhao
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  3. Pengfei Duan
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  4. Ming Li
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Correspondence to Ming Li.

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Qu, Z., Zhao, M., Duan, P. et al. Effects of nitrogen forms and supply modes on colony formation in Microcystis aeruginosa . J Appl Phycol 30, 831–837 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-017-1327-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-017-1327-8

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