Resistance of aerobic granular sludge microbiomes to periodic loss of biomass

• Granular sludge is a biofilm process used for wastewater treatment which is currently being implemented worldwide. It is important to understand how disturbances affect the microbial community and performance of reactors. Here, two acetate-fed replicate reactors were inoculated with acclimatized sludge and the reactor performance, and the granular sludge microbial community succession were studied for 149 days. During this time, the microbial community was challenged by periodically removing half of the reactor biomass, subsequently increasing the food-to-microorganism (F/M) ratio. Diversity analysis together with null models show that overall, the microbial communities were resistant to the disturbances, observing some minor effects on polyphosphate-accumulating and denitrifying microbial communities and their associated reactor functions. Community turnover was driven by drift and random granule loss, and stochasticity was the governing ecological process for community assembly. These results evidence the aerobic granular sludge process as a robust system for wastewater treatment.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Mikrobiologi inom det medicinska området (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Microbiology in the medical area (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Geoteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Geotechnical Engineering (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Vattenteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Water Engineering (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Mikrobiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Microbiology (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Miljöbioteknik -- Vattenbehandling (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Biotechnology -- Water Treatment (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Annan elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Granular sludge

Disturbance

Microbial succession

Null model

Resilience

deterministic processes

population-dynamics

community dynamics

waste-water

f/m ratio

diversity

bacterial

disturbance

resilience

mechanisms

Microbiology

Granular sludge

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)