Functional Biodiversity of Microbial Communities in Aerobic Selector Slaughterhouse Wastewater

Abstract

The biodiversity of the microbial communities of an aerobic selector and a conventional system treating slaughterhouse wastewater were evaluated using the Biolog technique (Biolog Inc., Hayward, California). Principal components analysis of patterns and level of microbial activity indicate that microbial communities statistically differentiate between the selector and conventional system. Biolog data indicated that there was seasonal variation in the structure and function of the microbial community in conventional samples, which may be a useful indicator of wastewater community disturbance and unsteadiness, while, for the selector system, there were no recognizable statistical differences between winter and summer data communities, Biodiversity indices indicated that the selector system maintained a high functional diversity (Shannon-Weaver diversity index [H'] from 3.8 to 4.6) than the conventional system (H' from 1.8 to 2.8). The high values in the selector system were a reflection of the fact that most of the carbon sources were used, contributing to the very high Shannon indices. In addition, the high substrate equitability values (J) obtained for the selector samples indicated that the microbial communities between the summer and winter samples used the carbon sources in the same proportion. In contrast, differences in the equitability of the microbial communities within the conventional system were observed. This indicated a pattern representing unevenness.