Long-term effects of untreated wastewater on soil bacterial communities

Tianlin Shen; Lu Liu; Yuncong Li; Qiang Wang; Jiulan Dai; Renqing Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.223

Long-term effects of untreated wastewater on soil bacterial communities

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Jan 1:646:940-950. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.223. Epub 2018 Jul 29.

Authors

Tianlin Shen¹, Lu Liu², Yuncong Li³, Qiang Wang⁴, Jiulan Dai⁵, Renqing Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory for Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, National Engineering & Technology Research Center for Slow and Controlled Release Fertilizers, College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271018, China; Environmental Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China; Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Tropical Research and Education Center, IFAS, University of Florida, Homestead, FL 33031, USA.
² National Engineering Laboratory for Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, National Engineering & Technology Research Center for Slow and Controlled Release Fertilizers, College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271018, China.
³ Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Tropical Research and Education Center, IFAS, University of Florida, Homestead, FL 33031, USA.
⁴ Environmental Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
⁵ Environmental Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China; Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Tropical Research and Education Center, IFAS, University of Florida, Homestead, FL 33031, USA. Electronic address: daijiulan@sdu.edu.cn.

PMID: 30067964
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.223

Abstract

For 46 years (1957-2002), irrigation with wastewater has increased the amount of heavy metal and organic contaminants in soils and altered bacterial communities in Shenyang, northeastern China. There has been characterization of the different heavy metal and petroleum contaminants in two types of land uses (cornfields and paddy fields). The Nemerow composite indices of heavy metal contaminants have been higher in cornfields (1.17-4.73) than those in paddy fields (0.57-1.64). Molecular-based techniques and biochemical-based techniques were used to analyze soil microbial diversity in our study. The metabolic activity of soil microbe communities was higher in paddy sites than that in cornfields. Organic pollutants such as saturated and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have significantly affected soil bacterial compositions. Heavy metals differed in how they disturbed the microbial communities. Arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) shifted the community composition and decreased microbial diversity; copper (Cu) reduced bacterial abundance in soil; and cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) lowered the metabolic capabilities of bacteria.

Keywords: Bacterial diversity and abundance; Heavy metals; Land use; Microbial metabolic activity; Total petroleum hydrocarbons.

MeSH terms

China
Environmental Monitoring
Metals, Heavy
Soil
Soil Microbiology*
Soil Pollutants / analysis*
Wastewater / chemistry*
Water Pollutants / analysis*

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Soil
Soil Pollutants
Waste Water
Water Pollutants