ABSTRACT
The community-level substrate utilization test based on direct incubation of environmental samples in Biolog EcoPlates is a suitable and sensitive tool to characterize microbial communities. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of plant roots and soil structure on the metabolic diversity of microorganisms in a constructed wetland with vertical flow. Sediment samples were taken from different filter depths representing specific filter layers. The color development representing the substrate utilization was measured with the samples over a period of 10 days. The average well color development (AWCD) for all carbon sources was calculated as an indicator of total activity and in order to compensate the influence of the inoculum's density on the color development in the plates. After transformation by dividing by the AWCD, the optical density data were analysed by principal component analysis (PCA). An analysis of the kinetic profile of the AWCD was carried out to increase the analytical power of the method. The corrected data have been successfully fit to the logistic growth equation. Three kinetic model parameters, the asymptote (K), the exponential rate of color change (p) and the time to the midpoint of the exponential portion of the curve (s), were used for statistical analysis of the physiological profile of the microbial community in the different filter layers of the constructed wetland. We found out that in the upper two horizons, which were rooted most densely, mainly easily degradable materials like specific carbohydrates were utilized, while in the lower layers, where only single roots occur, more biochemically inert compounds, e.g. 2-hydroxy benzoic acid, were utilized. Furthermore it could be shown that microorganisms in the surface layer benefited from the plant litter because they can utilize decay products of these. In the lower filter layers specialists took advantage because they had to cope with the biochemically inert materials and the lower nutrient supply.
