Dissolved Organic Carbon as Major Environmental Factor Affecting Bacterioplankton Communities in Mountain Lakes of Eastern Japan

Relationships between environmental factors and bacterial communities were investigated in 41 freshwater lakes located in mountainous regions of eastern Japan. Bacterioplankton community composition (BCC) was determined by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of the 16S rRNA gene and then evaluated on the basis of physicochemical and biological variables of the lakes. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that BCC of oligotrophic lakes was significantly influenced by dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content, but its effect was not apparent in the analysis covering all lakes including mesotrophic and eutrophic ones. The generalized linear model showed the negative association of DOC on the taxon richness of bacterioplankton communities. DOC was positively correlated with the catchment area per lake volume, suggesting that a large fraction of DOC supplied to the lake was derived from terrestrial sources. These results suggest that allochthonous DOC has a significant effect on bacterioplankton communities especially in oligotrophic lakes. The genus Polynucleobacter was detected most frequently. The occurrence of Polynucleobacter species was positively associated with DOC and negatively associated with total phosphorus (TP) levels. In addition, TP had a stronger effect than DOC, suggesting that oligotrophy is the most important factor on the occurrence of this genus.