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Analysis of microbial community structure and degradation of ammonia nitrogen in groundwater in cold regions

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Abstract

Nitrogen pollution exceeding the standard because of intensive farming and cropping systems has been a widespread problem in Northeast China. This study investigated the characteristics of functional microorganisms in groundwater in the Bang River farming area. Metagenomic sequencing was used to analyze microbial community structures and Canoco was applied to reveal the response relationship between the microbial community and water environmental factors and to identify changes in the microbial population in response to the addition of electronic donors NH4+-N, NO2−-N, and NO3−-N. The results showed that the dominant microorganisms in groundwater belong to the genera Exiguobacterium, Citrobacter, Acinetobacter, and Pseudomonas, which accounted for more than 40% of the total microbes in the study area. When combined with the results of a water chemical factor test, the dominant bacteria were found to be correlated with Fe2+, Mn2+, NH4+, NO3−, NO2−, HCO3−, DOC, and pH in the water. However, the microbial population changed after the addition of the electron donor, with the genera Pseudomonas, Serratia, Enterobacter, Azomonas, and Ewingella accounting for 97.06% of the total sequences. Indigenous nitrogen-degrading bacteria suitable for low temperature, low oxygen, and oligotrophic groundwater were screened out. The total removal efficiency of NH4+-N, NO2−-N, and NO3−-N in 120 h was 90.83%, 75.04%, and 73.35%, respectively. According to the experimental results, the degradation reaction kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order equation. The results presented herein provide an important scientific basis for the microbial remediation of groundwater contaminated by ammonia.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (2014ZX07201010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Shuo Li, Yuling Zhang, Siqi Yin, Xi Wang, Ting Liu & Zhiqun Deng

  2. Key Lab of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Shuo Li, Yuling Zhang, Siqi Yin, Xi Wang, Ting Liu & Zhiqun Deng

  3. Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Shuo Li, Yuling Zhang, Siqi Yin, Xi Wang, Ting Liu & Zhiqun Deng

  4. Institute of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Yuling Zhang, Siqi Yin, Xi Wang, Ting Liu & Zhiqun Deng

Authors
  1. Shuo Li
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  2. Yuling Zhang
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  3. Siqi Yin
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  4. Xi Wang
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  5. Ting Liu
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Correspondence to Yuling Zhang.

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Li, S., Zhang, Y., Yin, S. et al. Analysis of microbial community structure and degradation of ammonia nitrogen in groundwater in cold regions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 44137–44147 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10318-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10318-w

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