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Sulfate-reducing bacterial community shifts in response to acid mine drainage in the sediment of the Hengshi watershed, South China

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Abstract

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are an attractive option for treating acid mine drainage (AMD) and are considered to be of great significance in the natural attenuation of AMD, but the available information regarding the highly diverse SRB community in AMD sites is not comprehensive. The Hengshi River, which is continually contaminated by AMD from upstream mining areas, was selected as a study site for investigation of the distribution, diversity, and abundance of SRB. Overall, high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA and dsrB genes revealed the high diversity, richness, and OTU numbers of SRB communities, suggesting the existence of active sulfate reduction in the study area. Further analysis demonstrated that AMD contamination decreased the richness and diversity of the microbial community and SRB community, and led to spatiotemporal shifts in the overall composition and structure of sediment microbial and SRB communities along the Hengshi watershed. However, the sulfate reduction activity was high in the midstream, even though AMD pollution remained heavy in this area. Spatial distributions of SRB community indicated that species of Clostridia may be more tolerant of AMD contamination than other species, because of their predominance in the SRB communities. In addition, the results of CCA revealed that environmental parameters, such as pH, TS content, and Fe content, can significantly influence total microbial and SRB community structure, and dissolved organic carbon was another important factor structuring the SRB community. This study extends our knowledge of the distribution of indigenous SRB communities and their potential roles in natural AMD attenuation.

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Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 41720104004 and 41931288), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (no. 2017YFD0801000), the Fund of Science and Technology Bureau of Shaoguan City (no. 2017SGTYFZ201), and the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (no. 2019A1515110811).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, 510006, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Yanping Bao, Xiaohu Jin, Chuling Guo, Guining Lu & Zhi Dang

  2. School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of China

    Yanping Bao

  3. The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Chuling Guo, Guining Lu & Zhi Dang

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  1. Yanping Bao
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  2. Xiaohu Jin
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  3. Chuling Guo
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Correspondence to Chuling Guo or Zhi Dang.

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Bao, Y., Jin, X., Guo, C. et al. Sulfate-reducing bacterial community shifts in response to acid mine drainage in the sediment of the Hengshi watershed, South China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 2822–2834 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10248-7

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