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Characterization of Bacterial Communities in Aerosols over Northern Chinese Marginal Seas and the Northwestern Pacific Ocean in Autumn

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Abstract

The characteristics of the bacterial community structure in aerosols of different particle sizes over northern Chinese marginal seas and the northwestern Pacific Ocean in autumn were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing and the quantitative real-time PCR method based on 16S rRNA genes. Combined with environmental factors and air mass sources, the bacterial abundance, community diversity, composition and structural characteristics in aerosols were studied, which might provide a scientific evaluation for a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics, long-distance transmission and ecological effects of aerosols from coastal waters to the distant ocean (northwestern Pacific Ocean). At the junction of the South Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, the bacterial abundance in the aerosols was substantially affected by transmission of continental air masses and was higher than those in other samples, and the bacterial abundance in coarse particle (> 2.1 µm) samples was significantly higher than that in fine particle (< 2.1 µm) samples (P < 0.05). In contrast, aerosols collected at the northwestern Pacific Ocean (NWP5 site) were less affected by transmissions of continental air masses, and their bacterial abundance in coarse particle samples was significantly lower than that in fine particle samples. Significant differences in the richness and diversity of bacterial communities were observed among all samples (P < 0.05). The differences in the bacterial community in different sea areas were greater than those in the same sample with different particle sizes (P > 0.05). Among the environmental factors examined, a significant negative correlation was observed between bacterial community richness and temperature (P < 0.05), and the bacterial community diversity was significantly positively correlated with the concentration of K+ (P < 0.05). Canonical correspondence analysis showed that temperature, NH4+ concentration and SO42− concentration exerted significant effects on bacterial community structures (P < 0.01) in aerosols of different particle sizes over northern Chinese marginal seas and the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41775148), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 201762006), and the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (No. ZR2016CB47). Data acquisition and sample collections were obtained from the shared cruise organized by the Global Ocean Fleet of Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao) and conducted onboard R/V3 Dongfanghong by the Ocean University of China. We express our appreciation to Dr. Yidan Yin for assisting with sampling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Bo Zhang, Yu Zhen, Tiezhu Mi, Jianhua Qi & Gang Yuan

  2. Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao, 266237, China

    Bo Zhang, Yu Zhen, Tiezhu Mi, Jianhua Qi & Gang Yuan

  3. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Bo Zhang, Yu Zhen, Tiezhu Mi & Jianhua Qi

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  1. Bo Zhang
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Correspondence to Yu Zhen.

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Zhang, B., Zhen, Y., Mi, T. et al. Characterization of Bacterial Communities in Aerosols over Northern Chinese Marginal Seas and the Northwestern Pacific Ocean in Autumn. J. Ocean Univ. China 22, 136–150 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-023-5243-z

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