Contributions of adjacent water bodies to the microbial communities in the Gas Hure Salt Lake of the Qaidam Basin

Abstract:

[Objective] To explore the contributions of adjacent water bodies to the microbial communities in Gas Hure Salt Lake. [Methods] We collected the water and sediment samples from Gas Hure Salt Lake and the water samples from adjacent springs, river, and saltern for the measurement of geochemical parameters. Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing was employed to explore the microbial community composition. [Results] Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Euryarchaeota were dominant phyla in the water and sediment samples of Gas Hure Salt Lake. Salinity and pH were the most influential factors driving the community composition in the survey region. The contribution rates of adjacent water bodies to the microbial communities in the water and sediment of Gas Hure Salt Lake were 12.94% and 7.53%, respectively. [Conclusion] The external water bodies have limited contributions to the microbial communities of Gas Hure Salt Lake.