The Relationship between Microbial Community Evenness and Function in Slow Sand Filters

Haig, Sarah‐Jane; Quince, Christopher; Davies, Robert L.; Dorea, Caetano C.; Collins, Gavin

doi:10.1128/mbio.00729-15

Cited by 45 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Water biofilter functionality and performance, under different conditions, have been investigated and reported in several studies (LeChevallier et al, 1992;Liu et al, 2001;Moll et al, 1999). More recently, research has focused on understanding the composition of the complex microbial communities inhabiting water filters by employing molecular biology tools (Bai et al, 2013;Haig et al, 2014Haig et al, , 2015Palomo et al, 2016;Pinto et al, 2015;White et al, 2012). These studies have collected a considerable amount of phylogenetic and potential physiological information, contributing to a better understanding of some of the ecological functions of these communities in drinking water systems and their impact on the water in the distribution system (Pinto et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow-cytometric quantification of microbial cells on sand from water biofilters

et al. 2018

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a b s t r a c tRapid quantification of absolute microbial cell abundances is important for a comprehensive interpretation of microbiome surveys and crucial to support theoretical modelling and the design of engineered systems. In this paper, we propose a protocol specifically optimised for the quantification of microbial abundances in water biofilters using flow cytometry (FCM). We optimised cell detachment from sand biofilter particles for FCM quantification through the evaluation of five chemical dispersants (NaCl, Triton-X100, CaCl 2 , sodium pyrophosphate (PP), Tween 80 combined with PP), different mechanical pretreatments (low and high energy sonication and shaking) and two fixation methods (glutaraldehyde and ethanol). The developed protocol was cross-compared using other established and commonly employed methods for biomass quantification in water filter samples (adenosine triphosphate (ATP) quantification, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and volatile solids (VS)). The highest microbial count was obtained by detaching the biofilm from biofilter grains and dispersing clusters into singles cells using Tween 80 and sodium pyrophosphate combined with four steps of high energy sonication (27W, for 80 s each step); glutaraldehyde was shown to be the best fixative solution. The developed protocol was reliable and highly reproducible and produced results that are comparable to data from alternative quantification methods. Indeed, high correlations were found with trends obtained through ATP and qPCR (r ¼ 0.98 and r ¼ 0.91) measurements. The VS content was confirmed as an inaccurate method to express biomass in sand samples since it correlated poorly with all the other three methods (r ¼ 0.005 with FCM, 0.002 with ATP and 0.177 with qPCR). FCM and ATP showed the strongest agreement between absolute counts with a slope of the correlation equal to 0.7, while qPCR seemed to overestimate cell counts by a factor of ten. The rapidity and reproducibility of the method developed make its application ideal for routine quantification of microbial cell abundances on sand from water biofilters and thus useful in revealing the ecological patterns and quantifying the metabolic kinetics involved in such systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow-cytometric quantification of microbial cells on sand from water biofilters

et al. 2018

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“…but it may be related associated to age of the filters. According toHaig et al (2015), the 587 microbial community compositions of the SSFs were significantly different, depending588 on several factors such as: sample location, month of sample collection, depths at which 589 samples were taken; being the age of the filter the most significant parameter in 590 explaining changes in the microbial community and a water quality variable. In addition, 591 the diversity of species of bacteria colonizing the biofilm and their composition depends 592 also on the affluent water quality.…”

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confidence: 99%

Influence of PPCPs on the performance of intermittently operated slow sand filters for household water purification

Pompei

Ciric

Canales

et al. 2017

Science of The Total Environment

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Removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from drinking water is usually enhanced by advanced oxidation which is not affordable in low income countries. Slow sand filtration has been found to be capable of removing anti-inflammatory compounds, and its low maintenance costs and easy operation make it an attractive technology for treating drinking water in many parts of the world. In addition, slow sand filters can be used at both large and household scales. The biofilm (i.e. schmutzdecke) developed on the top of the sand and within the upper layers of the sand is acknowledged to be responsible for the water purification. However, it is possible that the PPCPs may affect the schmutzdecke development and microbial community within the filters, and consequently the performance of the filter. This study investigated two household slow sand filters (for water purification) operated intermittently with and without contamination by six PPCPs. Eleven parameters were monitored in the affluent and effluent water, including bacterial species present and schmutzdecke biomass development. Results demonstrated that the household slow sand filter performance was not affected by the 2μgL of PPCPs in the water. There was no significant difference between filters for total coliforms and E. coli removal, but there was considerable difference between sampling times. Biomass considerably increased with the number of filtrations in both filters and there was no significant difference between filter biomass. However, it was found that more bacterial species were present in the period with no contamination than during the contamination period. Bacillus anthracis and Exiguobacterium sp. showed to be resistant to the effects of the PPCPs. These suggest there are effects of PPCPs on bacterial species within the filter. However, the effect of the PPCPs on biomass was not conclusive in this study and needs to be further investigated.

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“…The form of dissimilatory metabolism has a large impact on bacterial growth rate and their dominance in the community. The higher evenness in the oxic treatment suggests that the bacterial community was more stable27.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Profiling bacterial communities associated with sediment-based aquaculture bioremediation systems under contrasting redox regimes

Robinson

Caldwell

Wade

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Deposit-feeding invertebrates are proposed bioremediators in microbial-driven sediment-based aquaculture effluent treatment systems. We elucidate the role of the sediment reduction-oxidation (redox) regime in structuring benthic bacterial communities, having direct implications for bioremediation potential and deposit-feeder nutrition. The sea cucumber Holothuria scabra was cultured on sediments under contrasting redox regimes; fully oxygenated (oxic) and redox stratified (oxic-anoxic). Taxonomically, metabolically and functionally distinct bacterial communities developed between the redox treatments with the oxic treatment supporting the greater diversity; redox regime and dissolved oxygen levels were the main environmental drivers. Oxic sediments were colonised by nitrifying bacteria with the potential to remediate nitrogenous wastes. Percolation of oxygenated water prevented the proliferation of anaerobic sulphate-reducing bacteria, which were prevalent in the oxic-anoxic sediments. At the predictive functional level, bacteria within the oxic treatment were enriched with genes associated with xenobiotics metabolism. Oxic sediments showed the greater bioremediation potential; however, the oxic-anoxic sediments supported a greater sea cucumber biomass. Overall, the results indicate that bacterial communities present in fully oxic sediments may enhance the metabolic capacity and bioremediation potential of deposit-feeder microbial systems. This study highlights the benefits of incorporating deposit-feeding invertebrates into effluent treatment systems, particularly when the sediment is oxygenated.

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The Relationship between Microbial Community Evenness and Function in Slow Sand Filters

Cited by 45 publications

References 40 publications

Flow-cytometric quantification of microbial cells on sand from water biofilters

Flow-cytometric quantification of microbial cells on sand from water biofilters

Influence of PPCPs on the performance of intermittently operated slow sand filters for household water purification

Profiling bacterial communities associated with sediment-based aquaculture bioremediation systems under contrasting redox regimes

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