title: Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms are a biological disturbance to Western Lake Erie bacterial communities.
abstract: Human activities are causing a global proliferation of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs), yet we have limited understanding of how these events affect freshwater bacterial communities. Using weekly data from western Lake Erie in 2014, we investigated how the cyanobacterial community varied over space and time, and whether the bloom affected non-cyanobacterial (nc-bacterial) diversity and composition. Cyanobacterial community composition fluctuated dynamically during the bloom, but was dominated by Microcystis and Synechococcus OTUs. The bloom's progression revealed potential impacts to nc-bacterial diversity. Nc-bacterial evenness displayed linear, unimodal, or no response to algal pigment levels, depending on the taxonomic group. In addition, the bloom coincided with a large shift in nc-bacterial community composition. These shifts could be partitioned into components predicted by pH, chlorophyll a, temperature, and water mass movements. Actinobacteria OTUs showed particularly strong correlations to bloom dynamics. AcI-C OTUs became more abundant, while acI-A and acI-B OTUs declined during the bloom, providing evidence of niche partitioning at the sub-clade level. Thus, our observations in western Lake Erie support a link between CHABs and disturbances to bacterial community diversity and composition. Additionally, the short recovery of many taxa after the bloom indicates that bacterial communities may exhibit resilience to CHABs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0768-4906
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.affiliation: NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Rose M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Cory
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Duhaime
authors.affiliation: Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Johengen
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Kling
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Den Uyl
authors.affiliation: NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108, USA.
authors.forename: Duane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gossiaux
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Vincent J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Denef
mesh_terms: D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D057097:Harmful Algal Bloom; D006801:Humans; D060106:Lakes / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology; D014872:Water Movements
chemical_list: D002734:Chlorophyll; D000077194:Chlorophyll A