Correlating microbial community profiles with geochemical conditions in a watershed heavily contaminated by an antimony tailing pond. (August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xiao, Enzong; Krumins, Valdis; Tang, Song; Xiao, Tangfu; Ning, Zengping; Lan, Xiaolong; Sun, Weimin
• Is Part Of: Environmental pollution. Volume 215(2016)
• Page Start: 141
• Page End: 153
• Publication Date: 2016-08
• Subjects: Antimony and arsenic co-contamination -- Mine tailings -- Microbial community -- High-throughput sequencing; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Effets physiologiques -- Périodiques; Pollution; Pollution -- Environmental aspects; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 363.73
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.04.087
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-7491

Abstract

Abstract: Mining activities have introduced various pollutants to surrounding aquatic and terrestrial environments, causing adverse impacts to the environment. Indigenous microbial communities are responsible for the biogeochemical cycling of pollutants in diverse environments, indicating the potential for bioremediation of such pollutants. Antimony (Sb) has been extensively mined in China and Sb contamination in mining areas has been frequently encountered. To date, however, the microbial composition and structure in response to Sb contamination has remained overlooked. Sb and As frequently co-occur in sulfide-rich ores, and co-contamination of Sb and As is observed in some mining areas. We characterized, for the first time, the microbial community profiles and their responses to Sb and As pollution from a watershed heavily contaminated by Sb tailing pond in Southwest China. The indigenous microbial communities were profiled by high-throughput sequencing from 16 sediment samples (535, 390 valid reads). The comprehensive geochemical data (specifically, physical-chemical properties and different Sb and As extraction fractions) were obtained from river water and sediments at different depths as well. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) demonstrated that a suite of in situ geochemical and physical factors significantly structured the overall microbial community compositions. Further, we found significant correlations between individual phylotypes (bacterial genera) and the geochemical fractions of Sb and As by Spearman rank correlation. A number of taxonomic groups were positively correlated with the Sb and As extractable fractions and various Sb and As species in sediment, suggesting potential roles of these phylotypes in Sb biogeochemical cycling. Graphical abstract: Highlights: Microbial communities were characterized in a Sb-contaminated watershed. Microbial communities were shaped by a suite of geochemical and physical factors. Numerous phylotypes were significantly correlated with Sb and As fractions. Abstract : The study indicates that the overall microbial communities and individual phylotypes are significantly shaped by in situ geochemical conditions.