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Influence of acid mine drainage on microbial communities in stream and groundwater samples at Guryong Mine, South Korea

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The effects of acid mine drainage (AMD) in a stream and groundwater near an abandoned copper mine were characterized by physicochemical properties, bacterial community structure using denaturing gel gradient electrophoresis (DGGE), and microbial activity/diversity using Ecoplate technique. Based on DGGE fingerprints, the eubacterial community structures grouped into the stream water (GRS1, GRS2 and GRS3) and groundwater samples (GW1 and GW2), apparently based on differences in water temperature and the concentrations of dissolved oxygen, nitrate and sulfate. The most highly AMD-contaminated sample (GRS1) had additional α-Proteobacteria whereas the groundwater samples included additional β-Proteobacteria, suggesting the development of populations resistant to AMD toxicity under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively. Community level physiological activities on the 31 Ecoplate substrates suggested that the activities decreased with increasing concentrations of sulfate and heavy metals derived from AMD. The Shannon index showed that microbial diversity was greatest in GRS2, and lowest in GRS1, and was probably related to the level of AMD.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant (project: Application of groundwater ecology to characterization of groundwater systems and contaminant behavior) from the Korea Research Council of Public Science & Technology. S. Y. Koo and J. Y. Kim were financially supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) through the Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Research Center at Pohang University of Science and Technology (R11-2003-006-06001-0). E. H. Lee was financially supported by the KOSEF NRL Program grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (R0A-2008-000-20044-0).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science, Kyonggi University, Suwon, 443-760, South Korea

    Jaisoo Kim

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 120-750, South Korea

    So-Yeon Koo, Ji-Young Kim, Eun-Hee Lee, Sang-Don Lee & Kyung-Suk Cho

  3. Ground and Geothermal Resources Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon, 305-350, South Korea

    Kyung-Seok Ko & Dong-Chan Ko

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  1. Jaisoo Kim
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  2. So-Yeon Koo
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Correspondence to Kyung-Suk Cho.

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Kim, J., Koo, SY., Kim, JY. et al. Influence of acid mine drainage on microbial communities in stream and groundwater samples at Guryong Mine, South Korea. Environ Geol 58, 1567–1574 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1663-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1663-8

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