The Characterization of Microbial Communities Response to Shallow Groundwater Contamination in Typical Piedmont Region of Taihang Mountains in the North China Plain

Abstract

Regional-scale nitrate and organic contaminants in the shallow groundwater were investigated in the Piedmont region of Taihang Mountains (PRTM), but the information of the microbial communities is limited. However, microorganisms provide a dominated contribution to indicate and degrade the contaminants in the aquifer. Therefore, this study investigates the microbial diversity and contamination microbial indicators of groundwater samples with different contaminated types to better understand the contamination in the PRTM. Seventy-six samples were collected between two rivers in the Tang-Dasha River Basin covering 4000 km2 in the PRTM. High-throughput sequencing was employed to determine the samples’ DNA sequences. The samples were divided into four groups: background (B), nitrate contamination (N), organic contamination (O) and organic-nitrate contamination (O_N) based on the cumulative probability distribution and the Chinese groundwater standard levels of NO3−, COD and DO concentrations. Then, the microbial diversity and contamination microbial indicators were studied in the four groups. The results showed that the O group exhibited lower diversity than other groups. Bacteria detected in these four groups covered 531 families, 987 genera, and 1881 species. Taxonomic assignment analysis indicated that Rhodobacter, Vogesella, Sphingobium dominated in the O_N group, N group, and O group, and accounted for 18.05%, 17.74%, 16.45% in each group at genus level, respectively. Furthermore, these three genera were identified as contamination microbial indicators to the three types of contamination, respectively. The results provide a potential molecular microbiological method to identity contamination in shallow groundwater, and established a strong foundation for further investigation and remediation in the PRTM.