Linking dissolved organic matter composition and bacterioplankton communities in an Amazon floodplain system

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is the main substrate for aquatic prokaryotes, fuelling their metabolism and controlling community composition. Amazonian rivers transport and process large fluxes of terrestrial DOM, but little is known about the link between DOM composition and heterotrophic bacteria in the Amazon basin. The aims of this study were to characterize DOM composition and investigate the coupling between DOM and bacterial community composition (BCC) during a complete hydrological cycle in an Amazon floodplain system (lake Janauaca). Our study revealed a clear seasonal pattern in DOM composition through the flood pulse, which affected the amounts of autochthonous and allochthonous inputs and consequently the extent of humification, molecular weight, and aromaticity of the DOM. BCC was tightly coupled to DOM fluorescence, which was also driven by differences over the hydrological cycle, with distinct components and operational taxonomic units being simultaneously more abundant and correlating with a specific season. This coupling was particularly well reflected for three of the four identified fluorescence components, two terrestrial humic-like components (C1 and C3) and an autochthonous component (C4). Despite clear changes in DOM composition, dissolved organic carbon concentrations tended to be relatively stable throughout the year. Overall, our results suggest that BCC shifts were associated with DOM quality but not with its quantity (that remains relatively constant throughout the year), and that bacteria preferably use labile and freshly produced DOM in lake Janauaca.