TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of heavy precipitation events on pathogen occurrence in estuarine areas of the Puzi River in Taiwan
AU - Shih, Yi Jia
AU - Chen, Jung Sheng
AU - Chen, Yi Jen
AU - Yang, Pei Yu
AU - Kuo, Yi Jie
AU - Chen, Tsung Hsien
AU - Hsu, Bing Mu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2021 Shih et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Pathogen populations in estuarine areas are dynamic, as they are subject to multiple natural and anthropogenic challenges. Heavy rainfall events bring instability to the aquatic environment in estuaries, causing changes in pathogen populations and increased environmental sanitation and public health concerns. In this study, we investigated the effects of heavy precipitation on the occurrence of pathogens in the Puzi River estuary, which is adjacent to the largest inshore oyster farming area in Taiwan. Our results indicated that Vibrio parahaemolyticus and adenovirus were the most frequently detected pathogens in the area. There was a significant difference (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.01) in water quality parameters, including total coliform, Escherichia coli, water temperature, turbidity, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, between groups with and without V. parahaemolyticus. In addition, the detection rate was negatively correlated with the average daily rainfall (r2 > 0.8). There was no significant difference between water quality parameters and the presence/absence of adenovirus, but a positive correlation was observed between the average daily rainfall and the detection rate of adenovirus (r2 0.75). We conclude that heavy precipitation changes estuarine water quality, causing variations in microbial composition, including pathogens. As extreme weather events become more frequent due to climate change, the potential impacts of severe weather events on estuarine environments require further investigation.
AB - Pathogen populations in estuarine areas are dynamic, as they are subject to multiple natural and anthropogenic challenges. Heavy rainfall events bring instability to the aquatic environment in estuaries, causing changes in pathogen populations and increased environmental sanitation and public health concerns. In this study, we investigated the effects of heavy precipitation on the occurrence of pathogens in the Puzi River estuary, which is adjacent to the largest inshore oyster farming area in Taiwan. Our results indicated that Vibrio parahaemolyticus and adenovirus were the most frequently detected pathogens in the area. There was a significant difference (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.01) in water quality parameters, including total coliform, Escherichia coli, water temperature, turbidity, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, between groups with and without V. parahaemolyticus. In addition, the detection rate was negatively correlated with the average daily rainfall (r2 > 0.8). There was no significant difference between water quality parameters and the presence/absence of adenovirus, but a positive correlation was observed between the average daily rainfall and the detection rate of adenovirus (r2 0.75). We conclude that heavy precipitation changes estuarine water quality, causing variations in microbial composition, including pathogens. As extreme weather events become more frequent due to climate change, the potential impacts of severe weather events on estuarine environments require further investigation.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0256266
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0256266
M3 - Article
C2 - 34398929
AN - SCOPUS:85112832410
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 16
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 8 August
M1 - e0256266
ER -
