Thiamine (vitamin B1) is one of the most significant organic micronutrients produced by some plankton species, and its precursors (HMP & MET) are the main products of thiamine degradation in the aquatic environments. According to the previous studies, the existence of thiamine and its precursors could be ubiquitous in the aquatic environments. However, neither the status or the ecological effects of thiamine and its precursors has been well studied in the freshwaters, although they were reported to be important limiting factors to the growth of microbiomes in marine environments and have a substantial impact on carbon and nitrogen fixation, as well as on species composition and distribution of phytoplankton groups. This project is aiming at examining the effects of thiamine and its precursors on the biomass and community structures of primary producers (e.g. periphyton) in streams. The responses of periphytons to experimentally induced changes in nutrient concentrations will be demonstrated by monitoring their growth rates, and by identifying the genera during the experiments.
Effect of thiamine and its precursors on the community composition of periphyton in streams