Microbial community composition of Tirez lagoon (Spain), a highly sulfated athalassohaline environment

Abstract

BackgroundThe aim was to study the seasonal microbial diversity variations of an athalassohaline environment with a high concentration of sulfates in Tirez lagoon (La Mancha, Spain). Despite the interest in these types of environments there is scarce information about their microbial ecology, especially on their anoxic sediments.ResultsWe report the seasonal microbial diversity of the water column and the sediments of a highly sulfated lagoon using both molecular and conventional microbiological methods. Algae and Cyanobacteria were the main photosynthetic primary producers detected in the ecosystem in the rainy season. Also dinoflagelates and filamentous fungi were identified in the brines. The highest phylotype abundance in water and sediments corresponded to members of the bacterial phylum Proteobacteria, mainly of the Gamma- and Alphaproteobacteria classes. Firmicutes and Actinobacteria were isolated and identified in Tirez brines and sediment samples. Halophilic sulfate reducing Deltaproteobacteria were also detected (Desulfohalobium).ConclusionsImportant differences have been found in the microbial diversity present in the Tirez water column and the sediments between the wet and dry seasons. Also the Tirez lagoon showed a high richness of the bacterial Alpha- and Deltaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and for the archaeal Euryarchaeota.

Microbial Diversity in Engineered Haloalkaline Environments Shaped by Shared Geochemical Drivers Observed in Natural Analogues

“…A total of 3,611 bacterial OTUs identified from 65,541 sequence reads were recovered from the eight samples; rarefied OTU richness (S rar ) ranged between 103 and 1,032 OTUs/sample (see Table S2 in the supplemental material). The Shannon diversity index at the OTU level (H= OTU ) was relatively low (H= OTU , 3.15 to 6.70; Table 3) compared to previously published data from naturally developed alkaline, saline environments (for salt/soda lakes, H= OTU ϭ 1.56 to 7.83 [55,60]; for geothermal springs, H= OTU ϭ 2.5 to 10 [61]) but higher than other alkaline, saline tailings (for chromite ore processing residue, H= OTU ϭ 0.75 to 2.32 [58]; for uranium mill tailings, H= OTU ϭ 3.51 to 3.96 [25]; for oil sands tailings, H= OTU ϭ 4.9 [62]), suggesting that bauxite residue communities are in a relatively early stage of community succession. Fungal DNA sequences were recovered from six of the eight samples, with a total of 31,362 sequence reads mapped to 823 OTUs.…”

“…S1 in the supplemental material). After closed-reference OTU picking, 560 bacterial OTUs were identified across all samples from natural environments (Tirez lagoon [55]) and engineered environments (bauxite residue, oil sands tailings, uranium mill tailings, chromite ore processing residue, and steel slag [56][57][58]), 367 of which were present in bauxite residue (Fig. 2).…”

Microbial Diversity and Cyanobacterial Production in Dziani Dzaha Crater Lake, a Unique Tropical Thalassohaline Environment

“…Saline inland waters often provide model ecosystems for studying microbial ecology, addressing numerous fundamental questions ranging from microbial diversity to the limits of life in extreme environments [1, 2]. Most saline lakes are endorheic inland water bodies and, as the dissolved mineral composition originates from the evaporation of continental water, are classified as athalassohaline environments [3], from the ancient Greek Θάλασσα (ocean) and άλας (salt), with the α-privative prefix a- (not).…”

Prokaryotic and viral community of the sulfate‐rich crust from Peñahueca ephemeral lake, an astrobiology analogue

“…Using culture‐dependent and molecular approaches, several athalassohaline aquatic systems have been described; e.g. inland haloalkaline lakes (Sorokin et al ., ; Vavourakis et al ., ); ephemeral water reservoirs such as the Salton Sea, California, USA (Hawley et al ., ); two hypersaline meromictic lakes in the Transylvanian Basin, Romania (Andrei et al ., ); the sulfated‐halophilic Tirez inland lake in Central Spain (Prieto‐Ballesteros et al ., ; Montoya et al ., ), the magnesium sulfate‐rich Keke Salt Lake in China (Han et al ., ), and the lithium and magnesium‐rich salt lake Salar de Uyuni (Haferburg et al ., ; Rubin et al ., ; Ramos‐Barbero et al, ,b). Non‐aquatic saline formations have also been subjected to microbial composition analysis, such as the Great Salt Plains of Oklahoma, USA (Crisler et al ., ); several halite‐rich deposits of the Atacama desert in Chile (halite, evaporite domes, microbial mats and crusts; Crits‐Christoph et al ., ; Rasuk et al ., ); salt‐crusts from evaporation ponds in Eilat, Israel (Oren et al ., ), and saline soils (Vera‐Gargallo and Ventosa, ).…”