Latitudinal distribution of microbial communities in anaerobic biological stabilization ponds: effect of the mean annual temperature.

Mengdong Yuan,Xingguo Han,Yangyang He,Weixiang Wu,Faqian Sun,Cheng Wang,Mengxiong Wu,Jing Zhu

doi:10.1111/1751-7915.12407

Abstract

SummaryConsidering wide utilization and high methane fluxes from anaerobic biological stabilization ponds (ABSPs), understanding the methanogenesis in ABSPs is of fundamental importance. Here we investigated the variation and impact factors of methanogenesis in seven ABSPs that spanned from the north to the south of China. Results showed that methanogen abundance (7.7 × 109–8.7 × 1010 copies g−1 dry sediment) and methanogenic activities (2.2–21.2 μmol CH 4 g−1 dry sediment h−1) were considerable for all sediments. Statistical analysis demonstrated that compared with other factors (ammonium, pH, COD and TOC), mean annual temperature (MAT) showed the lowest P value and thus was the most important influencing factor for the methanogenic process. Besides, with the increasing MAT, methanogenic activity was enhanced mainly due to the shift of the dominant methanogenic pathway from acetoclastic (49.8–70.7%) in low MAT areas to hydrogenotrophic (42.0–54.6%) in high MAT areas. This shift of methanogenic pathway was also paralleled with changes in composition of bacterial communities. These results suggested that future global warming may reshape the composition of methanogen communities and lead to an increasing methane emission from ABSPs. Therefore, further research is urgently needed to globally estimate methane emissions from ABSPs and re‐examine the role of ABSPs in wastewater treatment.

Highlights

Anaerobic biological stabilization ponds (ABSPs) are widely used for wastewater treatment around the world due to their simple operation, effective cost and low maintenance requirements
A long-term input of high concentration of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and an anaerobic condition of ABSPs sediments could be expected to promote the degradation of organic matters (Toprak, 1995), which would lead to an increase of methane emissions and thereby accelerated global warming
Physicochemical analyses revealed that almost all of the ABSPs had a high content of COD (382.3–973.3 mg lÀ1) (Table S1) and high ammonium (166.7–715.1 mg lÀ1) in water samples and high total organic carbon (108.7–254.3 g kgÀ1) and ammonium (2.42–12.65 g kgÀ1) (Table 1) in sediments

Summary

Considering wide utilization and high methane fluxes from anaerobic biological stabilization ponds (ABSPs), understanding the methanogenesis in ABSPs is of fundamental importance. With the increasing MAT, methanogenic activity was enhanced mainly due to the shift of the dominant methanogenic pathway from acetoclastic (49.8–70.7%) in low MAT areas to hydrogenotrophic (42.0–54.6%) in high MAT areas. This shift of methanogenic pathway was paralleled with changes in composition of bacterial communities. These results suggested that future global warming may reshape the composition of methanogen communities and lead to an increasing methane emission from ABSPs. further research is urgently needed to globally estimate methane emissions from ABSPs and reexamine the role of ABSPs in wastewater treatment

Introduction

Results and discussion

Conclusion

Experimental Procedures