Comparing the indigenous microorganism system in typical petroleum-contaminated groundwater

Jili Wang; Yuling Zhang; Yang Ding; Hewei Song; Ting Liu; Yi Zhang; Weiqing Xu; Yujia Shi

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137173

Comparing the indigenous microorganism system in typical petroleum-contaminated groundwater

Chemosphere. 2023 Jan;311(Pt 2):137173. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137173. Epub 2022 Nov 7.

Authors

Jili Wang¹, Yuling Zhang², Yang Ding¹, Hewei Song¹, Ting Liu¹, Yi Zhang¹, Weiqing Xu¹, Yujia Shi¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Lab of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People's Republic of China; College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People's Republic of China; Institute of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, People's Republic of China.
² Key Lab of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People's Republic of China; College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People's Republic of China; Institute of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: lingling29@126.com.

PMID: 36356804
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137173

Abstract

The environmental conditions at a contaminated site will impact on the indigenous microbial communities, with implications for the removal of pollutants. An analysis of the characteristics of microbial communities in petroleum-contaminated groundwater can give insights into the relationships between microbial community and environmental factors, and provide guidance about how microbes can be used to remediate and regulate petroleum-contaminated groundwater. This study focuses on two petroleum-contaminated sites in northeast China, the physico-chemical-biological changes in petroleum-contaminated groundwater were analyzed, the response relationship between hydro-chemical indicators and microbial communities was characterized, and the bioindicator that can reflect the petroleum contamination status were established for environmental monitoring and management. The results showed that Proteobacteria was the dominant bacteria in petroleum-contaminated groundwater, with a relative abundance of 42.45%-91.19%. pH, TDS, DO, NO₃^-, NO₂^-, SO₄^2-, NH₄⁺, Al, and Mn have significant effects on microbial community. The effect of petroleum pollutants on microbial communities is not only related to the concentration and composition of the pollutants themselves, but also could indirectly affect microbial communities by changing the content of inorganic electron acceptor components such as iron, manganese, sulfate and nitrate in groundwater, and this indirect effect is significantly greater than the direct impact of pollutants on microbial communities. In petroleum-contaminated groundwater, the dominant genera (Polaromonas, Caulobacter) and microbial metabolic functions (methanol oxidation, methylotrophy, ureolysis, and reductive biosynthesis) of the indigenous microbial community can be used as bioindicators to indicate petroleum contamination status. The higher abundance of these bioindicators in petroleum-contaminated groundwater, the more serious petroleum pollution in groundwater.

Keywords: Bioindicator; Groundwater; Indigenous microorganism; Petroleum-contaminated; Recipient environment.