Bacterial community responses to tourism development in the Xixi National Wetland Park, China

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 720; p. 137570
• Main Authors: Wang, Binhao, Zheng, Xiafei, Zhang, Hangjun, Xiao, Fanshu, Gu, Hang, Zhang, Keke, He, Zhili, Liu, Xiang, Yan, Qingyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 10.06.2020
• Subjects: Assemblage patterns; Bacteria; Bacterial communities; China; Microbiota; Parks, Recreational; Phylogenetic turnover; Tourism development; Urban wetlands; Wetlands; China; Bacterial communities; Urban wetlands; Tourism development; Assemblage patterns; Phylogenetic turnover
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137570

A large number of urban wetland parks have been established, but knowledge about the effects of tourism development on the microbial diversity and ecosystem functioning remains limited. This study aimed to clarify the responses of bacterial communities to tourism development targeted the Xixi National Wetland Park, China. By analyzing the diversity, composition, assembly pattern, and environmental drivers of bacterial communities, we found that tourism development considerably affected the water quality, which further decreased the α-diversity but increased the β-diversity in open areas for landscaping and recreation. Specifically, there was higher Simpson dissimilarity across functional wetland areas, indicating that species replacement mainly explained β-diversity patterns of bacterial communities. RDA analysis and ecological processes quantification further suggested that TOC and TC were the major factors in the open areas driving bacterial communities in water and sediment, respectively. Also, typical anti-disturbance taxa (Gammaproteobacteria) and potential pathogens (Bacillus) were enriched in the wetlands under more anthropogenic disturbances. Findings of the present study highlighted the effects of tourism development on bacterial communities resulted in obvious spatial variation in the Xixi National Wetland Park. This study gives us useful information for ecological assessments of urban wetlands, and further can provide references in making appropriate strategies to manage wetland ecosystems. [Display omitted] •The impacts of tourism development on bacterial communities were clarified.•Bacterial communities were sensitive to tourism projects.•Tourism reduced α-diversity of but increased β-diversity of bacterial communities.•Potential pathogens were enriched in wetland park watershed with human activities.•TOC of water and TC of sediment were the main drivers of bacterial assemblage.