Microbial community development in tropical constructed wetland soils in Taiwan
Journal
Science of The Total Environment
Journal Volume
812
Date Issued
2022-03
Author(s)
Chang, Ed-Haun
Abstract
Constructed wetlands are widely used around the world as a low-cost wastewater treatment system that simultaneously provides various ecosystem services. Microorganisms in wetland soils serve as fundamental producers and decomposers that support wetland functions. However, few studies have documented the compositions of soil microorganisms in constructed wetland systems and even fewer have evaluated how soil microorganisms change after a wetland is constructed. In this study, soil samples were collected from four constructed wetlands of different ages and analyzed with a phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) method to show how soil microbial communities change overtime. The results were that both the bacterial and fungal abundances increased with wetland age, and bacteria comprised about 90% of the soil microbial communities in all ages of constructed wetlands. Although the compositions of microbial communities remained similar among the wetlands, the stress indices showed that microbial stress may be affected by changes in the availability of in situ nutrients, e.g. ammonium, nitrate, soluble organic nitrogen and total dissolved nitrogen.
Subjects
Bacteria
Constructed wetland
Fungi
PLFA
Soil microbial community
Description
Article number: 152563
Type
journal article