Biogeography and Assembly of Microbial Communities in Wastewater Treatment Plants in China

Abstract

Scientific understanding of microbial biogeography and assembly is lacking for activated sludge microbial communities, even though the diversity of microbial communities in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is thought to have a direct influence on system performance. Here, utilizing large-scale 16S rRNA gene data generated from 211 activated sludge samples collected from 15 cities across China, we show activated sludge microbes, whose growth and metabolism can be regulated followed with the metabolic theory of ecology with an apparent Ea value (apparent activation energy) of 0.08 eV. WWTPs at a lower latitude tend to harbor a more diverse array of microorganisms. In agreement with the general understanding, the activated sludge microbial assembly was mainly driven by deterministic processes and the mean annual temperature was identified as the most important factor affecting the microbial community structure. The treatment process types with similar microbial growth types and functions had a distinct impact on the activated sludge microbial community structure only when WWTPs were located near each other and received similar influent. Overall, these findings provide us with a deeper understanding of activated sludge microbial communities from an ecological perspective. Moreover, these findings suggest that, for a given set of performance characteristics (e.g., combined nitrification, denitrification, and phosphorus removal), it may be difficult to employ common engineering levers to control additional aspects of community structure due to the influence of natural environmental factors.

Wastewater treatment alters microbial colonization of microplastics

“…The potential for WWTP bacteria to biodegrade microplastics would be a good topic for future controlled, manipulative experiments. In addition, the composition of microbial communities within WWTPs can vary seasonally [99,100] and by geographic location [101,102], so analyzing microplastic microbiomes within WWTPs across seasons and in more spatially separated locations would be valuable.…”

MiDAS 4: A global catalogue of full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences and taxonomy for studies of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment plants

“…While several studies have attempted to resolve the microbial diversity in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), most have focused on few facilities in specific countries or regions [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] . The only global diversity study of WWTPs concluded that there are billions of different species-level OTUs (97% identity, 16S rRNA V4 region), and that very few OTUs are shared across the world 2 .…”

Press Xenobiotic 3-Chloroaniline Disturbance Favors Deterministic Assembly with a Shift in Function and Structure of Bacterial Communities in Sludge Bioreactors

“…Although the disturbance is thought to be a main driver of these underlying community assembly mechanisms, a predictive understanding of its effects remains elusive . Disturbance can favor stochastic assembly mechanisms that could lead communities to deviating states of function and structure; , hence, the assessment of its effects also demands replicated study designs. , Further, while several studies have reported patterns of community assembly in engineered microbial systems, − relatively few have addressed the effects of disturbance on community assembly, structure, and function of such systems, particularly for bioreactors treating wastewater.…”