TY - JOUR
T1 - Linking bacterial population dynamics and nutrient removal in the granular sludge biofilm ecosystem engineered for wastewater treatment
AU - Weissbrodt, David G.
AU - Shani, Noam
AU - Holliger, Christof
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Intensive nutrient removal from wastewater in anaerobic-aerobic systems using granular sludge should rely on optimal balances at biofilm and microbial ecology levels. This study targets the impacts of reactor characteristics and fluctuations in operation conditions on nutrient removal and bacterial community structures by means of microbial and numerical ecology methods. The dynamics of both predominant and accompanying populations were investigated with high resolution on temporal and phylogenetic scales in two reactors operated during 5 months with synthetic wastewater. Multivariate analyses highlighted significant correlations from process to microbial scales in the first reactor, whereas nitrification and phosphorus removal might have been affected by oxygen mass transfer limitations with no impact at population level in the second system. The bacterial community continuum of the first reactor was composed of two major antagonistic Accumulibacter-Nitrosomonas-Nitrospira and Competibacter-Cytophaga-Intrasporangiaceae clusters that prevailed under conditions leading to efficient P- (> 95%) and N-removal (> 65%) and altered P- (<90%) and N-removal (<60%), respectively. A third cluster independent of performances was dominated by Xanthomonadaceae affiliates that were on average more abundant at 25 °C (31 ± 5%) than at 20 °C (22 ± 4%). Starting from the physiological traits of the numerous phylotypes identified, a conceptual model is proposed as a base for functional analysis in the granular sludge microbiome and for future investigations with complex real wastewater.
AB - Intensive nutrient removal from wastewater in anaerobic-aerobic systems using granular sludge should rely on optimal balances at biofilm and microbial ecology levels. This study targets the impacts of reactor characteristics and fluctuations in operation conditions on nutrient removal and bacterial community structures by means of microbial and numerical ecology methods. The dynamics of both predominant and accompanying populations were investigated with high resolution on temporal and phylogenetic scales in two reactors operated during 5 months with synthetic wastewater. Multivariate analyses highlighted significant correlations from process to microbial scales in the first reactor, whereas nitrification and phosphorus removal might have been affected by oxygen mass transfer limitations with no impact at population level in the second system. The bacterial community continuum of the first reactor was composed of two major antagonistic Accumulibacter-Nitrosomonas-Nitrospira and Competibacter-Cytophaga-Intrasporangiaceae clusters that prevailed under conditions leading to efficient P- (> 95%) and N-removal (> 65%) and altered P- (<90%) and N-removal (<60%), respectively. A third cluster independent of performances was dominated by Xanthomonadaceae affiliates that were on average more abundant at 25 °C (31 ± 5%) than at 20 °C (22 ± 4%). Starting from the physiological traits of the numerous phylotypes identified, a conceptual model is proposed as a base for functional analysis in the granular sludge microbiome and for future investigations with complex real wastewater.
KW - Aerobic granular sludge
KW - Bacterial community structure
KW - Biological wastewater treatment
KW - Multivariate numerical analyses
KW - PyroTRF-ID methodology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84901694917&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1574-6941.12326
DO - 10.1111/1574-6941.12326
M3 - Article
C2 - 24646314
AN - SCOPUS:84901694917
SN - 0168-6496
VL - 88
SP - 579
EP - 595
JO - FEMS Microbiology Ecology
JF - FEMS Microbiology Ecology
IS - 3
ER -