engleski

Can we track climate change’s impact on coastal lakes through the microbial community?

The Mediterranean region is densely inhabited, especially on the coastline, which along with the seasonal tourist migrations, presents the increased need for freshwater resources. The freshwater resources are predominantly used as drinking water or for irrigation. As climate change progresses, the consequences in the Mediterranean region are more visible, putting the Mediterranean zone amongst one of the world's water crisis hotspots. The changes in precipitation patterns and quantity, seawater level, and air temperature contributed to the irregularity of the available freshwater resources and even induced salinization of the previously freshwater systems. One of the crucial surface freshwater lakes on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea is Lake Vrana. Lake catchment area is comprised of surface canalized inlets and subterranean flows along with the springs that are heavily used for irrigation in the locally well- developed agricultural area. Lake Vrana is connected with the Adriatic Sea via an artificial canal and the karstified ridge, thereby enabling communication between the two environments. The stability of the lake system depends on the precipitation-evaporation balance. The responses of the microbial communities were tracked through 16S rDNA sequencing, as microbes are fundamental components of lake ecosystems and respond quickly to environmental changes. This year-long study revealed the occurrence of different environmental pressures in the system predominantly caused by the decreased precipitation and increased water temperatures. The changes in these main meteorological patterns induced the seawater intrusion in the dry part of the year, manifested as the increase of the halophilic opportunists such as the Sulfurovum genus. The salinization was initially localized, but the lake water column was homogenized in the upcoming weeks due to the strong winds. Moreover, the ecosystem did not fully return to the initial state in the wet period, pointing to the prolonged ecosystem recovery.

Salinization, Climate Change, Freshwater microbiome

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