Assessment of antibiotics effect in the aquatic environment on bacterial community

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25740029
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Environmental impact assessment
• Research Institution: Ehime University
• Principal Investigator: YOKOKAWA Taichi 愛媛大学, 沿岸環境科学研究センター, 講師 (00402751)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 水圏微生物食物網 / 抗生物質 / 細菌群集 / 腐食食物網

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Microbial food web in aquatic environments plays important roles in processes of organic matter degradation and remineralization. Concern that the anthropogenic pollutants in aquatic environments may undermine the function of microbial food web has prompted aquatic microbial ecology in recent years. As such, understanding the response of the bacterial community to anthropogenic contaminants (e.g., antibiotics, heavy metals) is crucial to assess stability of microbial food web functioning. We determined response of bacterial activity under antibiotic-contaminated conditions by using quantitative methods. Antibiotics addition caused a significant decrease of bacterial growth and respiration rates, and community succession. These data help to understand how microbial community respond to antibiotic contaminations. Our data demonstrated that antibiotic induce reduction of bacterial activity which could be a cause of inefficiency of microbial food web of the aquatic environments.

Free Research Field

微生物生態学