2011 Project Abstract For the Period Ending June 30, 2014 PROJECT TITLE: Mississippi River Water Quality Assessment PROJECT MANAGER: Michael Sadowsky AFFILIATION: University of Minnesota MAILING ADDRESS: 140 Gortner Lab, 1479 Gortner Ave CITY/STATE/ZIP: Saint Paul, MN 55108 PHONE: (612) 626-0977 E-MAIL:
[email protected] WEBSITE: http://www.cbs.umn.edu/main/news/inthefield/m3p.shtml FUNDING SOURCE: Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund LEGAL CITATION: M.L. 2011, First Special Session, Chp. 2, Art.3, Sec. 2, Subd. 05c APPROPRIATION AMOUNT: $ 557,000 Overall Project Outcome and Results A metagenomics-based sequencing approach was utilized to characterize the bacterial community at sites along the Mississippi River in Minnesota to understand how these communities were influenced by or indicative of water quality. Results of this study revealed that the bacterial community throughout the river primarily consisted of a small number of highly abundant species that comprise a “core microbial community” that was stable both in terms of community membership and inferred functional traits. Variation in community membership and species abundances were primarily influenced by physicochemical parameters (e.g. pH and temperature) rather than spatial distance, and a reproducible community structure occurred annually toward the late summer. Furthermore, specific bacterial orders were related to chemical concentrations that co-varied with surrounding land use, suggesting that increases in abundance of these orders may be indicative of specific types of contamination throughout the river. Therefore, assessment of the total bacterial community provides more information about water quality and contamination sources than could be previously gleaned from traditional enumeration of indicator bacteria like Escherichia coli.