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Microbial activity facilitates phosphorus adsorption to shallow lake sediment

  • SEDIMENTS, SEC 2 • BIOGEOCHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES • RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Abstract

Purpose

The phosphorus (P) level in sediments is one of the major indicators of the eutrophication of lakes. Little information is available on the effect of microbial activity on P adsorption in shallow lake sediments. In this study, we evaluated the effect of microbial activity on the adsorption of P to sediments in a shallow lake.

Materials and methods

The effect of microbes on P adsorption by lake sediment was examined using an incubation experiment. Sediment samples were collected from a eutrophic lake and sterilized by autoclaving. The sediment samples were inoculated and then incubated at various temperatures. Organic fractions of adsorbed P were analyzed to investigate the distribution of P in sediment.

Results and discussion

Microbial inoculation resulted in greater P adsorption in the sediment than sterilization in oxic conditions. This microbe-enhanced effect increased with temperature. The contribution of microbial inoculation to the maximum P adsorption values of the sterilized sediment increased with temperature at increments of 0.2, 12.3, 22.9, and 33.0 mg/kg for temperatures of 4°C, 20°C, 28°C, and 36°C, respectively. The concentrations of NaHCO3-IP, NaHCO3-OP, and Microbe-P in the inoculated sediments were significantly higher than those in the sterilized sediments, particularly Microbe-P, which was increased by more than 80%, indicating that P adsorption in the sediment was strongly influenced by microbial activity. The microbes release parts of P when oxic conditions change to anoxic conditions.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that the microbial activity could increase the adsorption of P in the sediment, especially under warmer temperatures and oxic conditions. It shows that sediment microbes could play an important role in the cycling of P in shallow lakes. These findings may lead to the development of an alternative technique to restore water quality in shallow lakes through microbial facilitated eco-remediation. Further work is needed to better understand the importance and mechanisms of this P fixation in situ.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Project of Scientific and Technical Supporting Programs Funded by Ministry of Science & Technology of China (2006BAD05B03), State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (2007CB109305), and the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 30471006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029, China

    Lidong Huang & Yongsong Zhang

  2. College of Environmental Engineering and Science, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    Shaoting Du

  3. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Subtropical Soil and Plant Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029, China

    Lin Fan & Xianyong Lin

  4. Scion, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand

    Hailong Wang

Authors
  1. Lidong Huang
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  2. Shaoting Du
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  3. Lin Fan
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  4. Xianyong Lin
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  5. Hailong Wang
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  6. Yongsong Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yongsong Zhang.

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Responsible editor: Ian Droppo

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Huang, L., Du, S., Fan, L. et al. Microbial activity facilitates phosphorus adsorption to shallow lake sediment. J Soils Sediments 11, 185–193 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-010-0305-4

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