The ecological risks of hydrogen peroxide as a cyanocide:its effect on the community structure of bacterioplankton

Microcystis blooms are an environmental and ecological concern that has received a serious attention. Hydrogen peroxide(H_2O_2) is an environment-friendly cyanocide that is commonly used to control Microcystis blooms. While the ecological safety of H_2O_2 has been previously studied, its influence on bacterioplankton has not been investigated to date. In this study, we used mesocosm experiments to determine the influence of H_2O_2 on the dynamic changes of the community structure of bacterioplankton. By using deep-sequencing and metagenomics strategy we determined the community structures of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton assemblages that were dominated by M icrocystis at a highly eutrophic Dianchi Lake, China. The results showed that M icrocystis was more sensitive to H_2O_2 than other eukaryotic algae. More interestingly, application of H_2O_2 changed the community structure of bacterioplankton, evidenced by the emergence of F irmicutes as the dominant species in place of B acteroidetes and Proteobacteria. The H_2O_2 treatment resulted in the community of bacterioplankton that was primarily dominated by E xiguobacterium and Planomicrobium. Our results show that the abundance changed and the bacterioplankton diversity did not recover even after the concentration of H_2O_2 reached to the background level. Thus, the response of bacterioplankton must be considered when assessing the ecological risks of using H_2O_2 to control Microcystis blooms, because bacterioplankton is the key player that forms the basis of food web of aquatic environment.