Fecal indicators, pathogens, antibiotic resistance genes, and ecotoxicity in Galveston Bay after Hurricane Harvey

Chen, Chih-Hung; Chu, Kung-Hui

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124953

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…High E. coli MPNs for samples collected immediately after HH, suggests that floodwaters were contaminated with fecal matter. These elevated MPNs agree with previous reports for Bayous within the Galveston Bay system ( Yu et al, 2018 ; Kiaghadi and Rifai, 2019 ; Yang et al, 2021 ), for the Guadalupe River ( Kapoor et al, 2018 ), which was also in the path of HH, and the report of Enterobacteriaceae in marine sponges offshore of Galveston Bay ( Shore et al, 2021 ). The EPA and TCEQ (2013) recommend Enterococci for estuaries and coastal waters; however, because of logistical issues, Enterococci MPNs were not available for several weeks after HH.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Nevertheless, prediction of ARG and virulence factors with PICRUSt2 in samples collected immediately following HH suggests that these floodwaters could pose a public health risk. The abundance of these virulence factors agrees with previously published qPCR measurements of ARG in samples collected from soils flooded during HH ( Pérez-Valdespino et al, 2021 ), in samples collected within Galveston Bay 2 weeks after HH ( Yang et al, 2021 ), and ARG and pathogens in floodwaters and bayous following HH ( Yu et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

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Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Water Quality and Microbial Communities in Houston, TX Waterbodies

et al. 2022

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Extreme weather events can temporarily alter the structure of coastal systems and generate floodwaters that are contaminated with fecal indicator bacteria (FIB); however, every coastal system is unique, so identification of trends and commonalities in these episodic events is challenging. To improve our understanding of the resilience of coastal systems to the disturbance of extreme weather events, we monitored water quality, FIB at three stations within Clear Lake, an estuary between Houston and Galveston, and three stations in bayous that feed into the estuary. Water samples were collected immediately before and after Hurricane Harvey (HH) and then throughout the fall of 2017. FIB levels were monitored by culturing E. coli and Enterococci. Microbial community structure was profiled by high throughput sequencing of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments. Water quality and FIB data were also compared to historical data for these water body segments. Before HH, salinity within Clear Lake ranged from 9 to 11 practical salinity units (PSU). Immediately after the storm, salinity dropped to < 1 PSU and then gradually increased to historical levels over 2 months. Dissolved inorganic nutrient levels were also relatively low immediately after HH and returned, within a couple of months, to historical levels. FIB levels were elevated immediately after the storm; however, after 1 week, E. coli levels had decreased to what would be acceptable levels for freshwater. Enterococci levels collected several weeks after the storm were within the range of historical levels. Microbial community structure shifted from a system dominated by Cyanobacteria sp. before HH to a system dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes immediately after. Several sequences observed only in floodwater showed similarity to sequences previously reported for samples collected following Hurricane Irene. These changes in beta diversity corresponded to salinity and nitrate/nitrite concentrations. Differential abundance analysis of metabolic pathways, predicted from 16S sequences, suggested that pathways associated with virulence and antibiotic resistance were elevated in floodwater. Overall, these results suggest that floodwater generated from these extreme events may have high levels of fecal contamination, antibiotic resistant bacteria and bacteria rarely observed in other systems.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Water Quality and Microbial Communities in Houston, TX Waterbodies

et al. 2022

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“…High E. coli MPNs for samples collected immediately after HH, suggests that floodwaters were contaminated with fecal matter. These elevated MPNs agree with previous reports for Bayous within the Galveston Bay system [27,66,67], for the Guadalupe River [26], which was also in the path of HH, and the report of Enterobacteriaceae in marine sponges offshore of Galveston Bay [51]. The EPA and TCEQ [55] recommend Enterococci for estuaries and coastal waters; however, because of logistical issues, Enterococci MPNs were not available for several weeks after HH.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Nevertheless, prediction of ARG and virulence factors with PICRUSt2 did agree with previously published qPCR measurements of ARG in samples collected from soils flooded during HH [41], in samples collected within Galveston Bay two weeks after HH [66], and ARG and pathogens in floodwaters and bayous following HH [67]. Prediction of increase in carbon cycling bacteria similarly agrees with reports that loading of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) during extreme weather events can enhance carbon cycling by bacterial communities in receiving waters [3] and high DOC levels in Galveston Bay following HH [53,65].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Water Quality and Microbial Communities in Houston, TX Waterbodies

LaMontagne

Zhang

Guillen

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Hurricanes, and other extreme weather events, can temporarily alter the structure of coastal systems and generate floodwaters that are contaminated with fecal-associated microbes; however, every coastal system and extreme weather event is unique, so identification of trends and commonalities in these episodic events is challenging. To improve our understanding of the resilience of coastal systems to the disturbance of extreme weather events and the risk exposure to floodwaters poses to the public, we monitored water quality, fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) at three stations within Clear Lake, an estuary between Houston and Galveston, and three stations in bayous that feed into the estuary. Water samples were collected immediately before Hurricane Harvey (pre-HH, August 25th, 2017), immediately after (HH, August 30th) and then throughout the fall of 2017 (post-HH). FIB levels were monitored by culturing E. coli and Enterococci. Microbial community structure was profiled by high throughput sequencing of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments. Water quality and FIB data was also compared to historical data for these water body segments. Before Harvey, salinity within Clear Lake ranged from 9 to 11 practical salinity units (PSU). Immediately after the storm, salinity dropped to < 1 PSU and then gradually increased to pre-storm and historical levels over two months. Dissolved inorganic nutrient levels were also relatively low immediately after Harvey and returned, within a couple of months, to pre-HH and historical levels. FIB levels were elevated immediately after the storm; however, after one week, E. coli levels had decreased to acceptable levels for freshwater. Enterococci levels collected several weeks after the storm were within the range of historical levels for these water bodies. Microbial community structure shifted from a system dominated by Cyanobacteria sp. before HH to a system dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes immediately after. Further, several sequences observed only in floodwater showed similarity to sequences previously reported for samples collected following Hurricane Irene. These changes in beta diversity corresponded to salinity and nitrate/nitrite concentrations. Differential abundance analysis of metabolic pathways, predicted from 16S sequences, suggested that pathways associated with virulence and antibiotic resistance were elevated in floodwater. Overall, these results suggest that recovery of the Clear Lake system following Hurricane Harvey took at least a month and floodwater generated from these extreme events may have high levels of fecal contamination, antibiotic resistant bacteria and bacteria rarely observed in other systems.

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“…While several studies focusing on phytoplankton have been conducted, less is known about bacterial responses. Studies that examine the overall bacterial community have typically been limited to cell counts, fecal indicators, or specific marker genes [ 50 , 47 , 51 ]. Here, we took advantage of the opportunity provided by the passage of Harvey to identify the shifts within the microbial population affected by an extreme rain event in a highly industrialized coastal estuary, Galveston Bay, using metagenomics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functionally diverse microbial communities show resilience in response to a record-breaking rain event

Woods

Pierce

Steichen

et al. 2022

ISME Communications

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Estuaries provide many ecosystem services and host a majority of the world’s population. Here, the response of microbial communities after a record-breaking flood event in a highly urbanized estuary was followed. Hurricane Harvey (hereafter Harvey) was a category 4 hurricane that made landfall on the Texas coast in 2017 and lashed the Houston area with 1.4–1.7 × 1010 m3 of rainfall, disrupting the natural gradients of nutrients and salinity. Here, we utilized metagenomics to analyze how Harvey altered the microbial community of Galveston Bay over five weeks following the storm. We hypothesized that the community would shift from a marine dominated community to that of a terrestrial and freshwater origin. We found that following the storm there were changes in the distribution of species with specific metabolic capacities, such as Cyanobacteria, enriched in oxygenic photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation genes, as well as Verrucomicrobia and Betaproteobacteria, with high prevalence of the SOX complex and anoxygenic photosynthesis genes. On the other hand, dominant members of the community with more diverse metabolic capabilities showed less fluctuations in their distribution. Our results highlight how massive precipitation disturbances can alter microbial communities and how the coalescence of diverse microorganisms creates a resilient community able to maintain ecosystem services even when the system is in an altered state.

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Fecal indicators, pathogens, antibiotic resistance genes, and ecotoxicity in Galveston Bay after Hurricane Harvey

Cited by 15 publications

References 55 publications

Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Water Quality and Microbial Communities in Houston, TX Waterbodies

Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Water Quality and Microbial Communities in Houston, TX Waterbodies

Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Water Quality and Microbial Communities in Houston, TX Waterbodies

Functionally diverse microbial communities show resilience in response to a record-breaking rain event

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