Response of microbial communities to different organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) contamination levels in contaminated soils

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 215; pp. 461 - 469
• Main Authors: Sun, Guangdong, Du, Yu, Yin, JunXian, Jiang, YunZhong, Zhang, Dayi, Jiang, Bo, Li, Guanghe, Wang, Hao, Kong, Fanxin, Su, Limao, Hu, Jialin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2019
• Subjects: Bacteria - genetics; Bacterial diversity; Biodegradation, Environmental; China; Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs); Hexachlorocyclohexane - analysis; Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs); Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - analysis; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - pharmacology; Microbial Consortia - drug effects; Microbial Consortia - physiology; Multivariate analysis; Nitrogen - analysis; Nitrogen - pharmacology; Pesticides - analysis; Pesticides - pharmacology; Phylogeny; Pyrosequencing; Soil - chemistry; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs); Bacterial diversity; Multivariate analysis; Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs); Pyrosequencing
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.09.160

Understanding microbial community structure and diversity in contaminated soils helps optimize the bioremediation strategies and performance. This study investigated the roles of environmental variables and contamination levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in shaping microbial community structure at an abandoned aged insecticide plant site. In total, 28 bacterial phyla were identified across soils with different physiochemical properties and OCPs levels. Proteobacteria, Bacterioidetes and Firmicutes represented the dominant lineages, and accounted for 60.2%–69.2%, 5.6%–9.7% and 6.7%–9.4% of the total population, respectively. The overall microbial diversities, in terms of phylogenetic diversity and phylotype richness, were correlated with the contents of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) in soils, as well as other soil properties including total nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, pH and vegetation. The multivariate regression tree (MRT) analysis revealed that the soil microbial diversity was significantly impacted by vegetation, which explained 31.8% of the total variation, followed by OCPs level (28.3%), total nitrogen (12.4%), dissolved organic carbon (6.3%) and pH (2.4%). Our findings provide new insights and implications into the impacts on soil microbial community by OCPs contamination and other environmental variables, and offer potential strategic bioremediation for the management of OCPs contaminated sites. [Display omitted] •This research revealed the microbial community structure and diversity across OCPs contaminated sites.•OCPs exposure and vegetation are the key determinants affecting the soil microbial community.•Provide novel insight and greater predictive power to the microbial diversity patterns.