Diurnal variations in bacterial and viral production in Cochin estuary, India

Microbes play a central role in the decomposition and remineralization of organic matter and recycling of nutrients in aquatic environments. In this study, we examined the influence of physical, chemical, and biological parameters on the rate of bacterial production (BP) and viral production (VP) with respect to primary production over a diurnal period in Cochin estuary. Time series measurements were made every 2 h for 12 h (6 a.m.–6 p.m.) during periods of low and high salinities. The light intensity as photosynthetically active radiation, temperature, salinity, nutrients like NO₃–N, SiO₄–Si, and PO₄–P, and chlorophyll a (Chl a) were measured along with BP, VP, and net primary production (NPP). NPP showed a strong positive correlation with light and Chl a (r ²?=?0.56 and 0.47, respectively), while VP showed a strong positive correlation with light, salinity, and Chl a (r ²?=?0.37, 0.58, and 0.37, respectively) and a negative correlation with BP (r ²?=??0.39) at P?≤?0.05. We observed a diurnal pattern in BP but did not have any significant correlation with light. Similar diurnal pattern was seen in VP, the peak of which was in succession with BP, suggesting that virus-mediated lysis plays an important role in loss processes of bacteria in Cochin estuary. The results of our study highlight the light-dependent and physicochemical-dependent diurnal variation in virioplankton production in a tropical estuarine ecosystem.     

Study of changes in bacterial and viral abundance in formaldehyde-fixed water samples by epifluorescence microscopy

Accurate measurement of bacterial and viral abundance in coastal marine environments is important to understand the dynamics of microbial communities in these ecosystems. In this study, the effect of formaldehyde preservation on the abundance of bacteria and viruses in water samples from Cochin Backwater was determined by SYBR Green I staining and epifluorescence microscopy. The counts were determined for 45 days in samples fixed with 1?C6% formaldehyde. The results suggest rapid decline in counts of bacteria and viruses in samples preserved in formaldehyde, and the decline increased with increase in the final concentration of formaldehyde in the sample. The initial bacterial and viral counts in the sampling site were 5.2 × 10⁶/ml and 3.9 × 10⁷/ml, respectively. The bacterial count dropped by 5.1%, 53.3%, 55.7%, and 85% after 1, 7, 15, and 45 days, respectively, in sample fixed with 1% formaldehyde. The decline in viral counts was higher, being 32.4%, 47.9%, 68.1%, and 93% after 1, 7, 15, and 45 days, respectively. Storage of fixed samples at ??20°C did not halt the decline in microbial counts, suggesting that, irrespective of storage temperature, formaldehyde-fixed samples lead to underestimation of microbial counts.     

Ecology and seasonal variation of microalgal community in an oil refinery effluent holding pond: monitoring and assessment

The microalgal community as primary producers has to play a significant role in the biotic and abitoic interactions of anyaquatic ecosystem. Whenever a community is exposed to a pollutant, responses can occur because individuals acclimate topollutant caused changes and selection can occur favouring resistant genotypes within a population and selection among species can result in changes in community structure. The microalgal community of industrial effluent treatment systems arecontinuously exposed to pollutants and there is little data available on the structure and seasonal variation of microalgalcommunity of industrial effluent holding ponds, especially of acomplex effluent like that of refinery. The aim of the presentstudy was to investigate the annual variation in the ecology,biomass, productivity and community structure of the algalcommunity of a refinery effluent holding pond. The results ofthe study showed the pond to be a eutrophic system with a resistant microalgal community with distinct seasonal variation in species composition.