title: Genetic characterization of fecal impacts of seagull migration on an urban scenery lake.
abstract: A microbial source tracking scheme was devised to differentiate fecal impacts of seagulls from that of human activities on an urban scenery lake in southern China, which is a major wintering ground for the black-headed seagull. Fecal contamination of seagulls was characterized by quantifying a novel genetic marker targeting Catellicoccus marimamalium. Quantification of this marker was combined with those of Escherichia coli, human-associated Bacteroidales, thermophilic Campylobacter and Helicobacter. Findings of a year-round study indicate that C. marimamalium levels correlated strongly, both spatially and temporally, with seagull migration. A steady increase in C. marimammalium concentrations was recorded between October 2014 and March 2015, which peaked at about 5-log copies/100 mL in January. However, a background level of about 2.1-log copies/100 mL was noticeable from April through September when seagulls were absent, probably due to other host sources or secondary habitats for C. marimammalium. Seagull migration also caused an apparent elevation of E. coli concentrations (86% and 60%, respectively for qPCR and culture method; p < 0.001) as well as Campylobacter and Helicobacter (66% and 68%, respectively; p < 0.001). Nonetheless, in contrast to the declining levels of E. coli, Campylobacter and Helicobacter, the human-specific Bacteroidales marginally increased in the seagull-absent season, indicating a limited influence of human activities, compared with seagull migration, on the seasonal variations in microbial water quality of the lake. The elevated levels of FIB, Campylobacter and Helicobacter along with C. marimammalium may imply human health risk of the lake water due to seasonal seagull migration, which requires further investigation for risk assessment.
authors.affiliation: International Science & Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, Engineering Technology Research Center for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, No. 13, Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710055, PR China.
authors.forename: Baolei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: International Science & Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, Engineering Technology Research Center for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, No. 13, Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710055, PR China. Electronic address: xcwang45@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiaochang C
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: International Science & Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, Engineering Technology Research Center for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, No. 13, Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710055, PR China.
authors.forename: Mawuli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dzakpasu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046091:Charadriiformes; D056569:Enterococcaceae / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli; D005243:Feces; D006801:Humans; D060106:Lakes; D012306:Risk
keywords: Catellicoccus marimammalium; Fecal contamination; Human health risk; Microbial source tracking