Cited by 11Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton DynamicsPharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental ImpactsMicrobial Community Ecology and Physiology

Short-Term Warming Induces Cyanobacterial Blooms and Antibiotic Resistance in Freshwater Lake, as Revealed by Metagenomics Analysis

Open access
Manna, Bharat, Jay, Emma, Zhang, Wensi, Zhou, Xueyang, Lyu, Boyu, Thomas, Gevargis Muramthookil, Singhal, Naresh·2024·Water

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Climate change threatens freshwater ecosystems, potentially intensifying cyanobacterial blooms and antibiotic resistance. We investigated these risks in Cosseys Reservoir, New Zealand, using short-term warming simulations (22 °C, 24 °C, and 27 °C) with additional oxidative stress treatments. A metagenomic analysis revealed significant community shifts under warming. The cyanobacterial abundance increased from 6.11% to 20.53% at 24 °C, with Microcystaceae and Nostocaceae proliferating considerably. The microcystin synthesis gene (mcy) cluster showed a strong association with cyanobacterial abundance. Cyanobacteria exhibited enhanced nutrient acquisition (pstS gene) and an upregulated nitrogen metabolism under warming. Concurrently, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) increased, particularly multidrug resistance genes (50.82% of total ARGs). A co-association network analysis identified the key antibiotic-resistant bacteria (e.g., Streptococcus pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baylyi) and ARGs (e.g., acrB, MexK, rpoB2, and bacA) central to resistance dissemination under warming conditions. Oxidative stress exacerbated both cyanobacterial growth and ARGs’ proliferation, especially efflux pump genes (e.g., acrB, adeJ, ceoB, emrB, MexK, and muxB). This study demonstrated that even modest warming (2–5 °C) could promote both toxic cyanobacteria and antibiotic resistance. These findings underscore the synergistic effects of temperature and oxidative stress posed by climate change on water quality and public health, emphasizing the need for targeted management strategies in freshwater ecosystems. Future research should focus on long-term impacts and potential mitigation measures.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/w16182655

Cites

78 of 78 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 80 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Manna, B., Jay, E., Zhang, W., Zhou, X., Lyu, B., Thomas, G. M., & Singhal, N.
Affiliations
University of Auckland (NZ)
Corresponding author
Singhal, Naresh
Venue
Water
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2024-09-18
Volume
16
Issue
18
Pages
2655
ISSN
2073-4441 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4402650217
Cited by
11
References
80
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 3
FWCI
1.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Water (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nd)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Royal Society of New Zealand (MFP-UOA2018, 9485/3729416)
  • Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland to NS (MFP-UOA2018, 9485/3729416)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
Keywords
cyanobacterial blooms, antibiotic resistance genes, climate change, oxidative stress, freshwater lakes, Nostocaceae, multidrug resistance genes, efflux pump genes, nitrogen metabolism, microbial community shifts, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, water quality

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review