Abstract

In this work we evaluated the effect of a perturbation on nitrification performance in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) treating urban and saline thermal bath wastewater, which regularly occurred during summer months. We wanted to find out if this related to changes in the ammonia oxidizing communities. The bacterial and ammonia-oxidizing bacterial (AOB) community from three different basins of the WWTP were evaluated using PCR-DGGE and cloning and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments, over a six month survey. Both eubacterial and AOB communities underwent continuous change over time, with a particularly prominent shift between the third and fourth month of monitoring for eubacteria and the fourth month and fifth month for AOB. At the same time, reduction of nitrification performance was observed in the WWTP. The AOB community in the activated sludge was dominated by clones with high 16S rRNA sequence identity to halophilic-halotolerant organisms from the Nitrosomonas oligotrohpa and Nitrosomonas marina clusters. A significant correlation (R = 0.97) was detected between the structure of the AOB community and environmental parameters, indicating that the AOB community structure changed in line with the environmental changes that took place over the sampling period. This study reports a clear association of microbial community dynamics (strongly correlated to salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen) to nitrification performance. Particularly, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria are severely affected by drastic changes in operational conditions, with direct consequences on WWTP performance.

Autore Pugliese

• Beneduce Luciano

Tutti gli autori

• L. Beneduce , G. Spano , F. Lamacchia , M. Bellucci , F. Consiglio , I. M. Head

Titolo volume/Rivista

ANNALS OF MICROBIOLOGY

Anno di pubblicazione

2014

ISSN

1590-4261

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

4

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Scopus

4

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile