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Microorganisms
Special Issues
Microbial Ecosystems in Water and Wastewater Treatment: 2nd Edition
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Microbial Ecosystems in Water and Wastewater Treatment: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2024) | Viewed by 6733

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carlo Salerno

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Water Research Institute, National Research Council (IRSA-CNR), Monterotondo, 00015 Rome, Italy
Interests: wastewater treatment plant; water quality; biotechnology; environmental microbiology; metaproteomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Stefano Amalfitano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Water Research Institute, National Research Council (IRSA-CNR), Monterotondo, 00015 Rome, Italy
Interests: microbial ecology; water quality; water treatment; flow cytometry; omics techniques; multivariate statistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issue, “Microbial Ecosystems in Water and Wastewater Treatment (https://www.mdpi.com/si/117406)”.

Water treatment plants are intended to remove organic, inorganic, and microbiological contaminants from influent/source waters using physical, chemical, and biological processes. In the case of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), treated water can be directly dispatched in final acceptor water bodies for possible reuse when a very low environmental impact level is shown. In general, water treatment facilities produce water for a wide range of specific purposes, including industrial processes, irrigation, water-based recreation, and direct human consumption.

Notably, all water reclamation processes are fundamentally supported by the microbial consortia hosted within water and wastewater treatment plants. The composition and functionality of these metacommunities (including bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, and metazoans) can differ depending on the characteristics of either the source water or the operative conditions of each plant.

Recently, the recurring detection of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs, including antibiotics and pesticides), microplastics, and many other water pollutants, has given impetus to the further exploring the microbe-driven degradation processes. This Special Issue offers a broad view of the microbiome, functional activity, and microbial relationships in the ecosystems found along treatment paths, with particular emphasis on community profiling, performed using advanced characterization techniques in different plant schemes and operative conditions.

Dr. Carlo Salerno
Dr. Stefano Amalfitano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microbial community
  • wastewater treatment plant
  • water reuse
  • biodegradation processes
  • water supply systems
  • water resource management

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3670 KiB  
Article
Seasonal Variations of Sediment Fungal Community of a Shallow Lake in North China
by Yujun Yi and Senlu Yin
Microorganisms 2024, 12(11), 2127; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12112127 - 24 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1006
Abstract
Fungi play important roles in the process of material cycling and energy transfers in aquatic ecosystems. Yet, little is known about the fungal community in lake sediment. In this study, sediment samples from five habitat types in Baiyangdian Lake (BYD Lake) were collected [...] Read more.
Fungi play important roles in the process of material cycling and energy transfers in aquatic ecosystems. Yet, little is known about the fungal community in lake sediment. In this study, sediment samples from five habitat types in Baiyangdian Lake (BYD Lake) were collected across three seasons. High-throughput sequencing techniques were used to determine the compositions of fungal communities. Fungi are highly diverse in the sediment of BYD Lake, although some important fungi have not been accurately identified. The fungal diversity was highest in winter and lowest in summer, while there was no significant difference in species richness among sampling sites. The compositions of fungal community differed among seasons and habitats. Physicochemical properties of sediments were measured and the influence of the environmental factors on fungal communities were analyzed. Temperature, P, N, and heavy metals explained 48.98% of the variations of fungal communities across three seasons. Human activities have affected the species and biomass of fungi to some extent. Temperature is the most influential factor and negatively correlated to fungal diversity. Nutrients in different forms have different effects on shaping the fungal community. The effect of heavy metals is relatively low. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Ecosystems in Water and Wastewater Treatment: 2nd Edition)
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19 pages, 6990 KiB  
Article
Cyanobacterial Blooms in City Parks: A Case Study Using Zebrafish Embryos for Toxicity Characterization
by Bruna Vieira, João Amaral, Mário Jorge Pereira and Inês Domingues
Microorganisms 2024, 12(10), 2003; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12102003 - 2 Oct 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1082
Abstract
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes that play an important role in the ecology of aquatic ecosystems. However, they can also produce toxins with negative effects on aquatic organisms, wildlife, livestock, domestic animals, and humans. With the increasing global temperatures, urban parks, renowned for their [...] Read more.
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes that play an important role in the ecology of aquatic ecosystems. However, they can also produce toxins with negative effects on aquatic organisms, wildlife, livestock, domestic animals, and humans. With the increasing global temperatures, urban parks, renowned for their multifaceted contributions to society, have been largely affected by blooms of toxic cyanobacteria. In this work, the toxicity of two different stages of development of a cyanobacterial bloom from a city park was assessed, evaluating mortality, hatching, development, locomotion (total distance, slow and rapid movements, and path angles) and biochemical parameters (oxidative stress, neurological damage, and tissue damage indicators) in zebrafish embryos/larvae (Danio rerio). Results showed significant effects for the samples with more time of evolution at the developmental level (early hatching for low concentrations (144.90 mg/L), delayed hatching for high concentrations (significant values above 325.90 mg/L), and delayed development at all concentrations), behavioral level (hypoactivity), and biochemical level (cholinesterase (ChE)) activity reduction and interference with the oxidative stress system for both stages of evolution). This work highlights the toxic potential of cyanobacterial blooms in urban environments. In a climate change context where a higher frequency of cyanobacterial proliferation is expected, this topic should be properly addressed by competent entities to avoid deleterious effects on the biodiversity of urban parks and poisoning events of wildlife, pets and people. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Ecosystems in Water and Wastewater Treatment: 2nd Edition)
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29 pages, 6131 KiB  
Article
The Saint-Leonard Urban Glaciotectonic Cave Harbors Rich and Diverse Planktonic and Sedimentary Microbial Communities
by Jocelyn Lauzon, Daniel Caron and Cassandre Sara Lazar
Microorganisms 2024, 12(9), 1791; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12091791 - 29 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1318
Abstract
The terrestrial subsurface harbors unique microbial communities that play important biogeochemical roles and allow for studying a yet unknown fraction of the Earth’s biodiversity. The Saint-Leonard cave in Montreal City (Canada) is of glaciotectonic origin. Its speleogenesis traces back to the withdrawal of [...] Read more.
The terrestrial subsurface harbors unique microbial communities that play important biogeochemical roles and allow for studying a yet unknown fraction of the Earth’s biodiversity. The Saint-Leonard cave in Montreal City (Canada) is of glaciotectonic origin. Its speleogenesis traces back to the withdrawal of the Laurentide Ice Sheet 13,000 years ago, during which the moving glacier dislocated the sedimentary rock layers. Our study is the first to investigate the microbial communities of the Saint-Leonard cave. By using amplicon sequencing, we analyzed the taxonomic diversity and composition of bacterial, archaeal and eukaryote communities living in the groundwater (0.1 µm- and 0.2 µm-filtered water), in the sediments and in surface soils. We identified a microbial biodiversity typical of cave ecosystems. Communities were mainly shaped by habitat type and harbored taxa associated with a wide variety of lifestyles and metabolic capacities. Although we found evidence of a geochemical connection between the above soils and the cave’s galleries, our results suggest that the community assembly dynamics are driven by habitat selection rather than dispersal. Furthermore, we found that the cave’s groundwater, in addition to being generally richer in microbial taxa than sediments, contained a considerable diversity of ultra-small bacteria and archaea. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Ecosystems in Water and Wastewater Treatment: 2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 7665 KiB  
Article
Optimization of H2O2 Production in Biological Systems for Design of Bio-Fenton Reactors
by Peiguo Zhou, Liping Yang, Wenjing Yang, Jiaxin Hou and Ziqiao Liao
Microorganisms 2024, 12(7), 1488; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12071488 - 20 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1385
Abstract
The treatment of antibiotic wastewater, which is known for its micro-toxicity, inhibition, and poor biochemistry, poses significant challenges, including complex processes, high energy demands, and secondary pollution. Bio-Fenton, a novel Fenton technology, enables the in situ production of H2O2 at [...] Read more.
The treatment of antibiotic wastewater, which is known for its micro-toxicity, inhibition, and poor biochemistry, poses significant challenges, including complex processes, high energy demands, and secondary pollution. Bio-Fenton, a novel Fenton technology, enables the in situ production of H2O2 at near-neutral pH, having low energy requirements and sustainable properties, and reduces the hazards of H2O2 transportation and storage. We preliminary self-designed a heterogeneous Bio-Fenton reactor. An aerobic SBBR system with pure algae, pure bacteria, and bacteria–algae symbiosis was first constructed to investigate the optimal process conditions through the effects of carbon source concentration, light duration, bamboo charcoal filling rate, and dissolved oxygen (DO) content on the H2O2 production and COD removal. Second, the reactor was constructed by adding iron-carrying catalysts to remove ROX and SDZ wastewater. The results demonstrated that the optimal operating parameters of aerobic SBBR were an influent carbon source concentration of 500 mg/L, a water temperature of 20 ± 2 °C, pH = 7.5, a dissolved oxygen content of 5 mg/L, a light–dark ratio of 12 h:12 h, a light intensity of 2500 Lux, an HRT of 10 h, and a bamboo charcoal filling rate of 33%. Given these conditions, the bacterial–algal system was comprehensively found to be the most suitable biosystem for this experiment. Ultimately, the dynamically coupled Bio-Fenton process succeeded in the preliminary removal of 41.32% and 42.22% of the ROX and SDZ from wastewater, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Ecosystems in Water and Wastewater Treatment: 2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 8294 KiB  
Article
Comparing Sediment Bacterial Communities of Volcanic Lakes and Surrounding Rivers in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Northeastern China
by Jianying Chao, Jian Li, Jing Gao, Chengrong Bai, Xiangming Tang and Keqiang Shao
Microorganisms 2024, 12(7), 1435; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12071435 - 15 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1047
Abstract
Volcanic lakes originate from a volcanic crater or caldera, and were a crucial component of aquatic ecosystems. Sediment bacteria play an important role in the nutrient cycling of aquatic ecosystems; however, their patterns distribution in volcanic lakes and the surrounding river habitats are [...] Read more.
Volcanic lakes originate from a volcanic crater or caldera, and were a crucial component of aquatic ecosystems. Sediment bacteria play an important role in the nutrient cycling of aquatic ecosystems; however, their patterns distribution in volcanic lakes and the surrounding river habitats are unknown. In this study, we compare the sediment bacterial communities and their co-occurrence networks between these two habitats in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Northeastern China (the Arxan UNESCO Global Geopark), using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The results revealed that there were significant variations in the physicochemical parameters of the sediment between these two habitats. The bacterial α-diversity, β-diversity, and community composition of the sediment also significantly differed between these two habitats. Network analysis showed that the co-occurrence patterns and keystone taxa in the sediment differed between these two habitats. The sediment bacterial communities in the river habitats were more stable than those in the lake habitats in the face of environmental change. Canonical correspondence analysis demonstrated that both physical (pH and MC) and nutrition-related factors (TN, TP, LOI, and TOC) were the most important environmental factors shaping the variations of bacterial community composition (BCC) in the sediment between these two habitats. This work could greatly improve our understanding of the sediment BCC of the sediment from aquatic ecosystems in the UNESCO Global Geopark. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Ecosystems in Water and Wastewater Treatment: 2nd Edition)
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