Microbial nitrate removal efficiency in groundwater polluted from agricultural activities with hybrid cork treatment wetlands
Agricultural practices have raised the level of nutrients reaching aquifers. In Europe, nitrate 24 pollution is considered as one of the main threats for the quality of groundwater in agricultural 25 areas. Treatment wetlands (TWs), also known as Constructed Wetlands, are used for 26 groundwater tre...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2019 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/312210 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://upcommons.upc.edu/bitstream/2117/125520/1/Microbial%20nitrate%20removal.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10261/312210 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga Hybrid treatment wetland nitrate pollution cork by-product microbial communities denitrifiers high-throughput sequencing |
| Sumario: | Agricultural practices have raised the level of nutrients reaching aquifers. In Europe, nitrate 24 pollution is considered as one of the main threats for the quality of groundwater in agricultural 25 areas. Treatment wetlands (TWs), also known as Constructed Wetlands, are used for 26 groundwater treatment in areas with an important concentrations of nitrogen compounds; total 27 nitrogen removal depends on the type and operation scheme. Cork by-product from the 28 industry has shown clear adsorbent properties to remove organic pollutants. The work is 29 focused on the characterization of microbial communities involved in the nitrate-nitrogen 30 removal process in groundwater polluted from agricultural activities. The experimental design 31 allowed the comparison of nitrate removal efficiency depending on the filter media material, 32 cork by-product or gravel, used in two hybrid TWs (a vertical flow cell followed by a horizontal 33 subsurface flow cell), installed in areas close to two irrigated agricultural plots at the Lleida plain 34 area (Spain). Both physicochemical and microbial results were consistent and confirm the nitrate 35 removal efficiency using cork as a filter media. A significant (p=0.0025) higher removal in Bellvís 36 TW using cork compared with the Vilanova de la Barca gravel system was observed, achieving a 37 removal rate from 80 to 99% compared to the 5-46%, respectively. Regarding the community 38 composition of the two different TWs, microorganisms were mainly related to the phylum 39 Proteobacteria, and included members found to be key players in the nitrogen cycle, such as 40 ammonia and nitrite oxidizers, as well as denitrifiers. Also, the group Bacteroidetes turn to be 41 another abundant phylum from our bacterial dataset, whose members are suggested to be 42 strongly involved in denitrification processes. Some groups showed to prevail depending on the 43 type of media (cork or gravel); Firmicutes and Delta and Epsilonproteobacteria had a significant 44 higher abundance in the TW with cork, while Acidobacteria and Planctomyces were prevalent in 45 gravel. Therefore, cork could be an alternative material used by treatment wetlands to minimize 46 the impact in the environment caused by nitrogen pollution in groundwater bodies. |
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