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The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) of the Yangtze River, China, is one of the largest irrigation and hydroelectric engineering projects in the world. The effects of huge man-made projects like TGD on fauna and macrophyte are obvious, mainly through changes of water dynamics and flow pattern; however, it is less clear how microorganisms respond to such changes. This research was aimed to examine differences in microbial diversity at different seasons and locations (in front of and behind the TGD). In addition, differences between particle-attached and free-living communities were also examined. The community structures of total and potentially active microorganisms in the water columns behind and Production and hosting by Elsevier available at www.sciencedirect.com China University of Geosciences (Beijing) GEOSCIENCE FRONTIERS journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gsf GEOSCIENCE FRONTIERS 3 (3) (2012) 335e349 in front of the TGD were analyzed with the DNA-and RNA-based 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic approaches over three different seasons. Clone libraries of 16S rRNA genes were prepared after amplification from extracted DNA and, for some samples, after preparing cDNA from extracted rRNA. Differences were observed between sites at different seasons and between free-living and particle-attached communities. Both bacterial and archaeal communities were more diverse in summer than in winter, due to higher nutrient levels and warmer temperature in summer than in winter. Particle-attached microorganisms were more diverse than free-living communities, possibly because of higher nutrient levels and heterogeneous geochemical micro-environments in particles. Spatial variations in bacterial community structure were observed, i.e., the water reservoir behind the TGD (upstream) hosted more diverse bacterial populations than in front of the dam (downstream), because of diverse sources of sediments and waters from upstream to the reservoir. These results have important implications for our understanding of responses of microbial communities to environmental changes in river ecosystems affected by dam construction. ª 2011, China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Peking University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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