Inconsistent seasonal variation of antibiotics between surface water and groundwater in the Jianghan Plain:Risks and linkage to land uses

Antibiotics are widely used in humans and animals,but their transformation from surface water to groundwater and the impact of land uses on them remain unclear.In this study,14 antibioticswere systematically surveyed in a complex agricultural area in Central China.Results indicated that the selected antibiotic concentrations in surface waters were higher in winter(average:32.7 ng/L)than in summer(average:17.9 ng/L),while the seasonal variation in groundwaters showed an opposite trend(2.2 ng/L in dry winter vs.8.0 ng/L in summer).Macrolides were the predominant antibiotics in this area,with a detected frequency of over 90%.A significant correlation between surface water and groundwater antibiotics was only observed in winter(R^(2)=0.58).This study further confirmed the impact of land uses on these contaminants,with optimal buffer radii of 2500 m in winter and 500 m in summer.Risk assessment indicated that clarithromycin posed high risks in this area.Overall,this study identified the spatiotemporal variability of antibiotics in a typical agricultural area in Central China and revealed the impact of land uses on antibiotic pollution in aquatic environments.

Agricultural Risk Factors Influence Microbial Ecology in Honghu Lake

Agricultural activities, including stock-farming, planting industry, and fish aquaculture,can affect the physicochemical and biological characters of freshwater lakes. However, the effects of pollution producing by agricultural activities on microbial ecosystem of lakes remain unclear.Hence, in this work, we selected Honghu Lake as a typical lake that is influenced by agriculture activities. We collected water and sediment samples from 18 sites, which span a wide range of areas from impacted and less-impacted areas. We performed a geospatial analysis on the composition of microbial communities associated with physicochemical properties and antibiotic pollution of samples. The co-occurrence networks of water and sediment were also built and analyzed. Our results showed that the microbial communities of impacted and less-impacted samples of water were largely driven by the concentrations of TN, TP, NO_3^--N, and NO_2^--N, while those of sediment were affected by the concentrations of Sed-OM and Sed-TN. Antibiotics have also played important roles in shaping these microbial communities: the concentrations of oxytetracycline and tetracycline clearly reflected the variance in taxonomic diversity and predicted functional diversity between impacted and less-impacted sites in water and sediment samples, respectively. Furthermore, for samples from both water and sediment, large differences of network topology structures between impacted and less-impacted were also observed. Our results provide compelling evidence that the microbial community can be used as a sentinel of eutrophication and antibiotics pollution risk associated with agricultural activity; and that proper monitoring of this environment is vital to maintain a sustainable environment in Honghu Lake.