Composition of bacterial and archaeal communities in freshwater sediments with different contamination levels (Lake Geneva, Switzerland).

Haller, Laurence and Tonolla, Mauro and Zopfi, Jakob and Peduzzi, Raffaele and Wildi, Walter and Poté, John (2011) Composition of bacterial and archaeal communities in freshwater sediments with different contamination levels (Lake Geneva, Switzerland). Water Research, 45 (3). pp. 1213-1228. ISSN 1879-2448

Text Haller 2011 Water Res 45.pdf Download (1MB)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the composition of bacterial and archaeal communities in contaminated sediments (Vidy Bay) with uncontaminated sediments (Ouchy area) of Lake Geneva using 16S rRNA clone libraries. Sediments of both sites were analysed for physicochemical characteristics including porewater composition, organic carbon, and heavy metals. Results show high concentrations of contaminants in sediments from Vidy. Particularly, high contents of fresh organic matter and nutrients led to intense mineralisation, which was dominated by sulphate-reduction and methanogenesis. The bacterial diversity in Vidy sediments was significantly different from the communities in the uncontaminated sediments. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a large proportion of Betaproteobacteria clones in Vidy sediments related to Dechloromonas sp., a group of dechlorinating and contaminant degrading bacteria. Deltaproteobacteria, including clones related to sulphate-reducing bacteria and Fe(III)-reducing bacteria (Geobacter sp.) were also more abundant in the contaminated sediments. The archaeal communities consisted essentially of methanogenic Euryarchaeota, mainly found in the contaminated sediments rich in organic matter. Multiple factor analysis revealed that the microbial community composition and the environmental variables were correlated at the two sites, which suggests that in addition to environmental parameters, pollution may be one of the factors affecting microbial community structure.

Item Type:	Scientific journal article, Newspaper article or Magazine article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Lake Geneva; Sediment pollution; Heavy metal; Microbial diversity; 16S rRNA; Clone library
Subjects:	Biological Sciences > Microbiology Biological Sciences > Microbiology > Microbiology not elsewhere classified
Depositing User:	Mauro Tonolla
Date Deposited:	18 Jan 2016 08:38
Last Modified:	30 Aug 2016 12:32
URI:	http://repository.supsi.ch/id/eprint/6896

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