Heavy metal pollution in urban river sediment of different urban functional areas and its influence on microbial community structure

Feng Wang; Wenyi Dong; Zilong Zhao; Hongjie Wang; Wenzheng Li; Guanhan Chen; Feifei Wang; Yue Zhao; Jie Huang; Ting Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146383

Heavy metal pollution in urban river sediment of different urban functional areas and its influence on microbial community structure

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jul 15:778:146383. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146383. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Authors

Feng Wang¹, Wenyi Dong², Zilong Zhao³, Hongjie Wang⁴, Wenzheng Li⁵, Guanhan Chen¹, Feifei Wang¹, Yue Zhao¹, Jie Huang¹, Ting Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
² School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China.
³ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China. Electronic address: berthillon@hotmail.com.
⁴ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China. Electronic address: whj1533@qq.com.
⁵ School of Marine Science and Management, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2220, Australia.

PMID: 34030363
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146383

Abstract

In this study, the Songgang River (SR) was selected as a typical contaminated urban river in a highly urbanized city (Shenzhen) that is extensively polluted by heavy metals (HMs). Five representative sampling sites were selected from different urban functional areas along the SR, and the spatial and vertical distributions of HMs and the related environmental risk were investigated. In addition, the distribution variability, composition, and abundance of microbial communities, as well as the correlation between the abundance of the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and the HM contents were analyzed. The spatial distribution of HMs in the sediment revealed wide variation among the different urban functional areas. Industrial and residential areas had higher HM contents, following the order of Cu > Zn > Ni > Cr > Pb. In addition, the vertical characterization (5-300 cm) of HM content showed a decreasing trend with depth, with a distinct layer around 120-180 cm that might have been caused by anthropogenic activity. An ecological risk assessment indicated that Cu, Ni, and Cr pose high potential risks in these industrial and residential areas (at the depth of 5-180 cm). Furthermore, microbial community analysis indicated that some HM-tolerant bacteria (e.g., Gallionella, Acidovorax, Arenimonas, Curvibacter, and Sideroxydans) were dominant in the 5-120 cm layer, corresponding to high HM contents. A canonical correspondence analysis and co-occurrence network further confirmed that there was a strong correlation among the urban functional areas, HM contents, and the abundance of microorganisms in the urban river sediment. The results of this study have the potential to provide a bio-augmentation strategy for the in-situ bioremediation of sediment contaminated by HMs.

Keywords: Co-occurrence network; Ecological risk assessment; Heavy metal; Microbial community structure; Urban functional area; Urban river sediment.

MeSH terms

China
Cities
Environmental Monitoring
Geologic Sediments
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Microbiota*
Risk Assessment
Rivers
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Water Pollutants, Chemical