Hydrological period conversions induce micro-eukaryotic community homogenization along the eastern route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project

Peng K., Qin Z., Feng T., Jeppesen E., Wei J., Liu J., ...Daha Fazla

Journal of Environmental Management, cilt.401, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 401
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.128873
  • Dergi Adı: Journal of Environmental Management
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, BIOSIS, Compendex, EMBASE, Environment Index, Geobase, Greenfile, Index Islamicus, Public Affairs Index, Social Sciences Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Biotic homogenization, Community assembly, Community stability, Hydrological period conversion, Micro-eukaryotic communities, South-to-North Water Diversion Project
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

How hydrological period conversions, including the water diversion period (WDP) and flood discharge period (FDP), influence microbial communities, their assembly mechanisms, and community stability remains poorly understood in large-scale water diversion systems. Herein, we conducted a comprehensive field survey of micro-eukaryotic communities across the 1045 km canal system and four impoundment lakes of the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (ER-SNWDP) during a complete diversion cycle. Our results showed that hydrological period conversions caused homogenization of the micro-eukaryotic communities, which was primarily driven by abundant taxa and significantly more pronounced during WDP than during FDP (p < 0.001). The underlying assembly processes behind the homogenization in WDP were ecological drift and dispersal, followed by homogeneous selection. However, the stochastic processes of ecological drift and dispersal dominated the assembly of the homogenized micro-eukaryotic community in FDP, possibly due to relatively stronger hydrological disturbances overshading the environmental filtering effects. Micro-eukaryotic biodiversity promoted network complexity and enhanced community stability, thereby counteracting the negative impacts of biotic homogenization. Network-associated communities exhibited pronounced compositional turnover across hydrological periods, with abundant taxa showing greater robustness than rare taxa. While abundant and rare taxa played comparable roles in stabilizing microbial networks during WDP, their relative contributions diverged markedly from WDP to FDP, indicating that increasing environmental pressure amplified the “Matthew effect” in the microbial world. Collectively, this study offers insights into the ecological consequences of hydrological period conversions in the ER-SNWDP, highlighting the importance of integrating microbial biodiversity conservation into multi-purpose water management.