Bacterial community composition and abundance in leachate of semi-aerobic and anaerobic landfills

Abstract

The abundance and phylogenetic composition of bacterial community in leachate of semi-aerobic and anaerobic landfill were compared through real-time polymerase chain reaction and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. In semi-aerobic landfill scenario, the bacterial 16S rRNA copy numbers in leachate had no significant reduction from initial stage to stable period. In the scenario of anaerobic landfill, the largest bacterial 16S rRNA gene copy number was found in leachate at initial stage, but it reduced significantly at stable period. Moreover, methane-oxidizing bacteria population in stable period was lower than that in initial period in both two landfill processes. However, semi-aerobic landfill leachate had more methanotrophic bacteria populations than that in the anaerobic one. Furthermore, according to the sequences and phylogenetic analysis, obvious difference could be detected in bacterial community composition in different scenarios. Proteobacteria and bacteroidetes took up a dominantly higher proportion in semi-aerobic landfill leachate. To summarize up, different landfill methods and its landfill ages had crucial impacts on bacterial abundance and composition in leachate of semi-aerobic and anaerobic landfills.