Habitat-Specific Regulation of Microbiota in Long-Distance Water Diversion Systems

Abstract

Long-distance water diversion projects typically utilize various hydro-engineering facilities, creating complex and dynamic habitats. However, the microbial dynamics of multi-trophic microorganisms during water diversion and their responses to different hydro-engineering habitats remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated bacteria, fungi, protists, and metazoa across tunnels, reservoirs, and inverted siphon piping along the main and northern branches of the Yellow River Diversion Project into Shanxi, during spring, summer, and autumn. Our results showed that both seasonal factors and hydro-engineering facilities significantly influenced the composition and diversity of microbiota. Bacterial community composition remained relatively stable during water transport, while fungi, protists, and metazoa exhibited greater spatial variability and habitat specificity. Stochastic processes predominantly governed the community assembly of all microbial groups across all hydro-engineering habitats. The structural features of the main network modules within the co-occurrence networks of multi-trophic species were highly consistent across different seasons within the same habitat, indicating the stable adaptation of microbiota interactions to the same habitat. Patterns of intra-kingdom (within bacteria, fungi, protists, or metazoa) and inter-kingdom (between bacteria, fungi, protists, and metazoa) associations of microbiota in different habitats varied, reflecting specific adaptations of microorganisms to particular habitats and suggesting an important role for environmental filtering. Variance partitioning analysis revealed that environmental factors accounted for 34.21% to 45.19% of the variation in the four microbial taxa. Our findings reveal the ecological processes of microbial assembly and adaptation in large-scale water diversion projects, providing insights for project management and risk control.