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Open Access Green as soon as Postprint is submitted to ZB.
Response and recovery of a pristine groundwater ecosystem impacted by toluene contamination - A meso-scale indoor aquifer experiment.
J. Contam. Hydrol. 207, 17-30 (2017)
Microbial communities are the driving force behind the degradation of contaminants like aromatic hydrocarbons in groundwater ecosystems. However, little is known about the response of native microbial communities to contamination in pristine environments as well as their potential to recover from a contamination event. Here, we used an indoor aquifer mesocosm filled with sandy quaternary calciferous sediment that was continuously fed with pristine groundwater to study the response, resistance and resilience of microbial communities to toluene contamination over a period of almost two years, comprising 132days of toluene exposure followed by nearly 600days of recovery. We observed an unexpectedly high intrinsic potential for toluene degradation, starting within the first two weeks after the first exposure. The contamination led to a shift from oxic to anoxic, primarily nitrate-reducing conditions as well as marked cell growth inside the contaminant plume. Depth-resolved community fingerprinting revealed a low resistance of the native microbial community to the perturbation induced by the exposure to toluene. Distinct populations that were dominated by a small number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) rapidly emerged inside the plume and at the plume fringes, partially replacing the original community. During the recovery period physico-chemical conditions were restored to the pristine state within about 35days, whereas the recovery of the biological parameters was much slower and the community composition inside the former plume area had not recovered to the original state by the end of the experiment. These results demonstrate the low resilience of sediment-associated groundwater microbial communities to organic pollution and underline that recovery of groundwater ecosystems cannot be assessed solely by physico-chemical parameters.
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Publication type
Article: Journal article
Document type
Scientific Article
Keywords
Aromatic Hydrocarbons ; Azoarcus ; Biodegradation ; Contaminant Plumes ; Groundwater Ecosystem ; Microbial Communities ; Perturbation ; Recovery ; Resilience ; Resistance ; Toluene; Landfill Leachate Plume; Microbial Community Structure; Natural Attenuation; Denitrifying Bacterium; Life-cycle; Degradation; Biodegradation; Diversity; Genes; Quantification
ISSN (print) / ISBN
0169-7722
e-ISSN
1873-6009
Journal
Journal of Contaminant Hydrology
Quellenangaben
Volume: 207,
Pages: 17-30
Publisher
Elsevier
Publishing Place
Amsterdam
Non-patent literature
Publications
Reviewing status
Peer reviewed
Institute(s)
Institute of Groundwater Ecology (IGOE)