Floodplain soil and its bacterial composition are strongly affected by depth.

We studied bacterial abundance and community structure of five soil cores using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Shifts in the soil bacterial composition were more pronounced within a vertical profile than across the landscape. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) concentrations decreased exponentially with soil depth and revealed a buried carbon-rich horizon between 0.8 and 1.3 m across all soil cores. This buried horizon was phylogenetically similar to its surrounding subsoils supporting the idea that the type of carbon, not necessarily the amount of carbon was driving the apparent similarities. In contrast to other studies, Nitrospirae was one of our major phyla with relatively high abundances throughout the soil profile except for the surface soil. Although depth is the major driver shaping soil bacterial community structure, positive correlations with SOC and N concentrations, however, were revealed with the bacterial abundance of Acidobacteria, one of the major, and Gemmatimonadetes, one of the minor phyla in our study. Our study showed that bacterial diversity in soils below 2.0 m can be still as high if not higher than in the above laying subsurface soil suggesting that various bacteria throughout the soil profile influence major biogeochemical processes in floodplain soils.

Human-induced and natural carbon storage in floodplains of the Central Valley of California.

Active floodplains can putatively store large amounts of organic carbon (SOC) in subsoils originating from catchment erosion processes with subsequent floodplain deposition. Our study focussed on the assessment of SOC pools associated with alluvial floodplain soils that are affected by human-induced changes in floodplain deposition and in situ SOC mineralisation due to land use change and drainage. We evaluated depth-dependent SOC contents based on 23 soil cores down to 3 m and 10 drillings down to 7 m in a floodplain area of the lower Cosumnes River. An estimate of 266 Mg C ha-1 or about 59% of the entire SOC stored within the 7 m profiles was found in the upper 2 m. Most profiles (n = 25) contained discrete buried A horizons at depths of approximately 0.8 m. These profiles had up to 130% higher SOC stocks. The mean δ13C of all deep soil profiles clearly indicated that arable land use has already altered the stable isotopic signature in the first meter of the profile. Radiocarbon dating showed that the 14C age in the buried horizon was younger than in overlaying soils indicating a substantial sedimentation phase for the overlaying soils. An additional analysis of total mercury contents in the soil profiles indicated that this sedimentation was associated with upstream hydraulic gold mining after the 1850s. In summary, deep alluvial soils in floodplains store large amounts of SOC not yet accounted for in global carbon models. Historic data give evidence that large amounts of sediment were transported into the floodplains of most rivers of the Central Valley and deposited over organically rich topsoil, which promoted the stabilization of SOC, and needs to be considered to improve our understanding of the human-induced interference with C cycling.

Water level changes affect carbon turnover and microbial community composition in lake sediments.

Due to climate change, many lakes in Europe will be subject to higher variability of hydrological characteristics in their littoral zones. These different hydrological regimes might affect the use of allochthonous and autochthonous carbon sources. We used sandy sediment microcosms to examine the effects of different hydrological regimes (wet, desiccating, and wet-desiccation cycles) on carbon turnover. (13)C-labelled particulate organic carbon was used to trace and estimate carbon uptake into bacterial biomass (via phospholipid fatty acids) and respiration. Microbial community changes were monitored by combining DNA- and RNA-based real-time PCR quantification and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of 16S rRNA. The shifting hydrological regimes in the sediment primarily caused two linked microbial effects: changes in the use of available organic carbon and community composition changes. Drying sediments yielded the highest CO2 emission rates, whereas hydrological shifts increased the uptake of allochthonous organic carbon for respiration. T-RFLP patterns demonstrated that only the most extreme hydrological changes induced a significant shift in the active and total bacterial communities. As current scenarios of climate change predict an increase of drought events, frequent variations of the hydrological regimes of many lake littoral zones in central Europe are anticipated. Based on the results of our study, this phenomenon may increase the intensity and amplitude in rates of allochthonous organic carbon uptake and CO2 emissions.

Anthropogenic Trace Compounds (ATCs) in aquatic habitats - research needs on sources, fate, detection and toxicity to ensure timely elimination strategies and risk management.

Anthropogenic Trace Compounds (ATCs) that continuously grow in numbers and concentrations are an emerging issue for water quality in both natural and technical environments. The complex web of exposure pathways as well as the variety in the chemical structure and potency of ATCs represents immense challenges for future research and policy initiatives. This review summarizes current trends and identifies knowledge gaps in innovative, effective monitoring and management strategies while addressing the research questions concerning ATC occurrence, fate, detection and toxicity. We highlight the progressing sensitivity of chemical analytics and the challenges in harmonization of sampling protocols and methods, as well as the need for ATC indicator substances to enable cross-national valid monitoring routine. Secondly, the status quo in ecotoxicology is described to advocate for a better implementation of long-term tests, to address toxicity on community and environmental as well as on human-health levels, and to adapt various test levels and endpoints. Moreover, we discuss potential sources of ATCs and the current removal efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to indicate the most effective places and elimination strategies. Knowledge gaps in transport and/or detainment of ATCs through their passage in surface waters and groundwaters are further emphasized in relation to their physico-chemical properties, abiotic conditions and biological interactions in order to highlight fundamental research needs. Finally, we demonstrate the importance and remaining challenges of an appropriate ATC risk assessment since this will greatly assist in identifying the most urgent calls for action, in selecting the most promising measures, and in evaluating the success of implemented management strategies.

An assessment of temporal variations in physicochemical and microbiological properties of barmouths and lagoons in Chennai (Southeast coast of India).

Two estuary and two coastal lagoon stations along Chennai, Southeast coast of India were monitored for 1year to study both physicochemical and microbiological properties of the water. Influence of the marine environment over the systems was evident by elevated salinity levels. Considerable concentrations of total heterotrophic bacterial count and fecal bacteria such as total coliforms, fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci were observed throughout the study period which evinced a pattern of anthropogenic activities. Principle component analysis was employed for assessing the overall pattern of variation within the data sets. Climatic variation was highly correlated with changes in water quality, i.e. the Northeast monsoon and Summer had influenced considerably the microbial occurrence as well as the physicochemical parameters such as total suspended solids, chloride, sulphate and salinity. However, the effect of the Southwest monsoon was less prominent than the Northeast monsoon with its heavy rains. As both estuaries revealed elevated concentrations of polluted water, these stations can be used as indicators or alerts for the water quality along the coastal zone of Chennai.

Reciprocal subsidies between freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems structure consumer resource dynamics.

Cross-ecosystem movements of material and energy, particularly reciprocal resource fluxes across the freshwater-land interface, have received major attention. Freshwater ecosystems may receive higher amounts of subsidies (i.e., resources produced outside the focal ecosystem) than terrestrial ecosystems, potentially leading to increased secondary production in freshwaters. Here we used a meta-analytic approach to quantify the magnitude and direction of subsidy inputs across the freshwater-land interface and to determine subsequent responses in recipient animals. Terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems differed in the magnitude of subsidies they received, with aquatic ecosystems generally receiving higher subsidies than terrestrial ecosystems. Surprisingly, and despite the large discrepancy in magnitude, the contribution of these subsidies to animal carbon inferred from stable isotope composition did not differ between freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, likely due to the differences in subsidy quality. The contribution of allochthonous subsidies was highest to primary consumers and predators, suggesting that bottom-up and top-down effects may be affected considerably by the input of allochthonous resources. Future work on subsidies will profit from a food web dynamic approach including indirect trophic interactions and propagating effects.

Terrestrial subsidies to lake food webs: an experimental approach.

Cross-ecosystem movements of material and energy are ubiquitous. Aquatic ecosystems typically receive material that also includes organic matter from the surrounding catchment. Terrestrial-derived (allochthonous) organic matter can enter aquatic ecosystems in dissolved or particulate form. Several studies have highlighted the importance of dissolved organic carbon to aquatic consumers, but less is known about allochthonous particulate organic carbon (POC). Similarly, most studies showing the effects of allochthonous organic carbon (OC) on aquatic consumers have investigated pelagic habitats; the effects of allochthonous OC on benthic communities are less well studied. Allochthonous inputs might further decrease primary production through light reduction, thereby potentially affecting autotrophic resource availability to consumers. Here, an enclosure experiment was carried out to test the importance of POC input and light availability on the resource use in a benthic food web of a clear-water lake. Corn starch (a C(4) plant) was used as a POC source due to its insoluble nature and its distinct carbon stable isotope value (δ(13)C). The starch carbon was closely dispersed over the bottom of the enclosures to study the fate of a POC source exclusively available to sediment biota. The addition of starch carbon resulted in a clear shift in the isotopic signature of surface-dwelling herbivorous and predatory invertebrates. Although the starch carbon was added solely to the sediment surface, the carbon originating from the starch reached zooplankton. We suggest that allochthonous POC can subsidize benthic food webs directly and can be further transferred to pelagic systems, thereby highlighting the importance of benthic pathways for pelagic habitats.

Temperature-controlled organic carbon mineralization in lake sediments.

Peatlands, soils and the ocean floor are well-recognized as sites of organic carbon accumulation and represent important global carbon sinks. Although the annual burial of organic carbon in lakes and reservoirs exceeds that of ocean sediments, these inland waters are components of the global carbon cycle that receive only limited attention. Of the organic carbon that is being deposited onto the sediments, a certain proportion will be mineralized and the remainder will be buried over geological timescales. Here we assess the relationship between sediment organic carbon mineralization and temperature in a cross-system survey of boreal lakes in Sweden, and with input from a compilation of published data from a wide range of lakes that differ with respect to climate, productivity and organic carbon source. We find that the mineralization of organic carbon in lake sediments exhibits a strongly positive relationship with temperature, which suggests that warmer water temperatures lead to more mineralization and less organic carbon burial. Assuming that future organic carbon delivery to the lake sediments will be similar to that under present-day conditions, we estimate that temperature increases following the latest scenarios presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could result in a 4-27 per cent (0.9-6.4 Tg C yr(-1)) decrease in annual organic carbon burial in boreal lakes.

Carbon turnover and ammonia emissions during composting of biowaste at different temperatures.

The effects of different process temperatures (40, 55, and 67 degrees C) during composting of source-separated household waste were studied in a 200 L compost reactor at an oxygen concentration of 16%. The overall decomposition measured as carbon mineralization, decomposition of different carbon constituents, and the dynamics of nitrogen mineralization and the microbial community, are reported. Ammonia emissions at 67 degrees C were more than double those at lower temperatures, and they were lowest at 40 degrees C. The decomposition rate, measured as CO2 emission, was highest at 55 degrees C. Decomposition of crude fat was slower at 40 degrees C than at 55 and 67 degrees C. The peak in microbial biomass was largest in the run at 40 degrees C, where substantial differences were seen in the microbial community structure and succession compared to thermophilic temperatures. Biowaste composting can be optimized to obtain both a high decomposition rate and low ammonia emissions by controlling the process at about 55 degrees C in the initial, high-rate stage. To reduce ammonia emissions it seems worthwhile to reduce the temperature after an initial high-temperature stage.

Effects of differing temperature management on development of Actinobacteria populations during composting.

Actinobacteria are believed to play a major role in organic matter degradation and humification processes in composts. In this study, the effects of different temperature regimes on the succession of Actinobacteria populations during composting were investigated in a laboratory reactor. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) was used to investigate quantitative changes in the overall microbial biomass and community structure, and in the size of Actinobacteria populations. Qualitative changes were determined using PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) and sequencing of 16S rRNA genes with Actinobacteria-specific primers. The peak in total microbial biomass was roughly twice as high and delayed in trials where the maximum temperature was 40 degrees C, compared to those where it was 55 or 67 degrees C. There was a shift from members of Corynebacterium, Rhodococcus and Streptomyces at the onset to species of thermotolerant Actinobacteria in the cooling phase, e.g. Saccharomonospora viridis, Thermobifida fusca and Thermobispora bispora. In conclusion, temperature was an important selective factor for the development of Actinobacteria populations in composts, and they constituted a substantial part of the community in the later compost stages.

Microbial community growth and utilization of carbon constituents during thermophilic composting at different oxygen levels.

Composting is characterized by dramatic changes in microbial community structure, to a high extent driven by changes in temperature and in the composition of the organic substrate. This study focuses on the interrelationships between decomposition of major classes in the organic material and dynamics in microbial populations during thermophilic composting of source-separated organic household waste. Experiments were performed in a 200-L laboratory reactor at 16, 2.5, and 1% O(2) in the compost atmosphere. Major classes of carbon constituents were analyzed by chemical methods, and the microbial biomass and community structure determined by fatty acid analyses with phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) and total ester-linked fatty acids (EL) methods. At all three O(2) levels, the process was characterized by a rapid increase in microbial activity and biomass in the early thermophilic phase, although this period was delayed at the lower O(2) concentrations. Starch and fat were the main substrates utilized at all three O(2) levels during this period. The depletion of the starch fraction coincided with the beginning of a microbial biomass decrease, suggesting that starch is an important carbon substrate for the growth of thermophilic microorganisms during composting. Growth yields in the microbial community based on consumption of major carbon constituent classes in the high-activity period fell between 22 and 28%. Multivariate statistical analysis of changes in fatty acid composition revealed small, but statistically significant differences in the microbial community succession. At 16% O(2), 10 Me fatty acids from Actinomycetes and cyclopropyl fatty acids (from Gram-negative bacteria) became more important with time, whereas 18:1 omega 7t was characteristic at 2.5 and 1% O(2), indicating a more stressed bacterial community at the lower O(2) concentrations. Although adequate composting was achieved at O(2) levels as low as 2.5 and 1%, it is not recommended to compost at such low levels in large-scale systems, because the heterogeneous gas transport through the material in these systems might lead to anaerobic conditions and inefficient composting.

Microbial characterization of artificial sediment and comparisons with natural sediments--implications for toxicity testing.

The development and activity of microbiota in artificial sediment may have strong implications for the fate of test compounds and the outcome of toxicity tests. In this study, we compare a number of microbial variables in the artificial sediment commonly used in toxicity testing with that of natural sediments. Bacterial abundance of artificial sediment ranged 5.7 to 7.1 x 10(8) cells/g wet weight, which is about two orders of magnitude lower than values commonly reported for natural sediments. Similarly, alternative estimates of microbial biomass (sum of phospholipid fatty acid, ergosterol, adenosine triphosphate) were several times lower for artificial sediment compared with natural sediment. Bacterial activity (3H-thymidine incorporation) ranged 4.0 to 7.4 pmol g(-1) h(-1) (or 0.062-0.113 microg C g(-1) h(-1)) in artificial sediments, which is low compared with values commonly reported for freshwater sediments. Community respiration in artificial sediment was 34 to 93 microg CO2 g(-1) d(-1). Bacterial community composition assessed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism of polymerase chain reaction amplified 16S rRNA genes demonstrated that natural bacterial communities appear to be more diverse than their counterparts in artificial sediment. The average similarity of the microbial communities obtained by this method was less than 40%, and different operational taxonomic units appeared to dominate the artificial and natural sediment, respectively. These results and supporting data from previous studies in natural sediments suggest that the artificial sediment has a poorly developed microbial component that differs substantially from that in natural sediments.

Comparison of signature lipid methods to determine microbial community structure in compost.

The microbial community structure changes substantially during the composting process and simple methods to follow these changes can potentially be used to estimate compost maturity. In this study, two such methods, the microbial identification (MIDI) method and the ester-linked (EL) procedure to determine the composition of long-chain fatty acids, were applied to compost samples of different age. The ability of the two methods to describe the microbial succession was evaluated by comparison with phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis on the same samples.Samples were taken from a 200-l laboratory compost reactor, treating source-separated organic household waste. During the initial stages of the process, the total concentration of fatty acids in compost samples treated with the EL and MIDI methods was many times higher than with the PLFA method. This was probably due to the presence of fatty acids from the organic material in the original waste. However, this substantial difference between PLFA and the other two methods was not found later in composting. Although the PLFA method gave the most detailed information about the growth and overall succession of the microbial community, the much simpler MIDI and EL methods also successfully described the shift from the initially dominating straight chain fatty acids to iso- and anteiso branched, 10 Me branched and cyclopropane fatty acids in the later stages of the process. Thus, the MIDI and EL extraction methods appear to be suitable for analysis of microbial FAME profiles in compost, particularly in the later stages of the process.