Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41874663›Full record

ArticleMicrobial ecology2026

Linking Bacterial r/k Ecological Shifts to Spatiotemporal Nitrogen Removal Dynamics in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems.

Caiqin Hu, Minghui Lin, Tiehuan Hu, Yanyi Zeng, Ru Zeng, Chao Wang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Microbial ecology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Caiqin HuPearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China.
Minghui LinPearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China. linmmh81@163.com.
Tiehuan HuPearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China.
Yanyi ZengPearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China.
Ru ZengPearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China.
Chao WangPearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China. chaowang80@163.com.

Funding

Demonstration and Promotion of Key Technologies for Land-based Factory Farming of Hybrid Eleotris oxycephala NO.SL2023E04J00185Guangzhou Science and Technology Program Project NO.2023A04J0897State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences NO.LTO2326the Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund, CAFS NO.2024SJRC4
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The composition and function of bacterial communities in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) vary significantly across operational phases and treatment units. Yet the causal links between these bacterial dynamics and nitrogen removal mechanisms remain obscure. In this study, we demonstrated dynamic shifts in bacterial community composition and nitrogen removal function within RAS throughout cultivation and in each unit, by water quality monitoring, 16 S rRNA gene sequencing, metagenomics, 15N isotope tracing and kinetic modeling. Bacterial community composition shifted temporally, marked by a decline in r-strategists and increases in both α- and β-diversity from the start-up to the culture phase, a succession primarily driven by salinity, total dissolved solids, and conductivity. Ecologically, this transition is indicative of a shift in dominant life-history strategies, from an r-selected pioneer community to a K-selected, more stable and resilient community. Denitrification, anammox, and nitrification dominated nitrogen removal pathways, collectively representing 45.2% of the nitrogen-cycling functional genes. In addition, there was significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity in bacterial nitrogen removal. Spatially, aquatic bacteria exhibited higher denitrification activity, while biofilm-attached anammox bacteria of K-strategist demonstrated disproportionately high metabolic activity relative to their low abundance; this was probably regulated by biofilm-associated quorum sensing. Temporally, the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) enabled an initial rapid ammonia degradation, whereas nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and denitrifiers dominated later-stage decreases in nitrite and nitrate, indicating that the bacterial nitrogen removal function responded to nutrient dynamics. This study demonstrated the coupling mechanisms between ecological adaptation strategies of bacterial communities and nitrogen removal function in RAS, thereby establishing a basis for precision management technologies targeting functional bacteria.

Indexed as

AquacultureBacteriaMicrobiotaNitrogenBiofilmsDenitrificationMetagenomicsNitrificationRNA, Ribosomal, 16SNitrogenRNA, Ribosomal, 16SAnammoxBiofilmDenitrificationMetagenomicsNitrification

Identifiers

PMID41874663
PMCPMC13053406

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.