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Differentiated free-living and sediment-attached bacterial community structure inside and outside denitrification hotspots in the river–groundwater interface

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Abstract

This study assessed the functional significance of attached and free-living bacterial communities involved in the process of denitrification in a shallow aquifer of a riparian zone (Garonne River, SW France). Denitrification enzyme activity (DEA), bacterial density (BD) and bacterial community composition (BCC) were measured in two aquifer compartments: the groundwater and the sandy fraction of the sediment deposit. Samples were collected in wells located inside (IHD) and outside (OHD) identified hotspots of denitrification. Despite high BD values (up to 1.14 × 1012 cells m−3), DEA was not detected in the water compartment (< 0.32 mg N–N2O m−3 d−1). The sandy fraction showed detectable DEA (up to 1,389 mg N–N2O m−3 d−1) and, consistent with BD pattern, higher DEA values were measured in IHD zones than in OHD zones. The BCC assessed by 16S rDNA polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) partly supported this result: attached and free-living communities were significantly different (< 30% similarity) but patterns of BCC did not cluster according to IHD and OHD zones. Targeting the denitrifying communities by means of a culture enrichment step prior to 16S rDNA PCR-DGGE showed that the free-living and sediment attached communities differed. Most sequences obtained from DGGE profiles of denitrifying communities were affiliated to Proteobacteria and showed low genetic distance with taxa that have already been detected in aquifers (e.g., Azoarcus sp., Acidovorax sp. and Pseudomonas spp.). This study confirms that in the aquifer the sediment-attached fraction exhibits different functions (DEA) from free-living communities and suggests that this functional difference is related to the communities’ structure.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by GIS ECOBAG (Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique – Ecologie et Economie du Bassin Adour Garonne), A. Iribar was supported by FEDER (Fonds Européen de Développement Régional). We are grateful to C. Mur and D. Dalger for water analysis and F. Julien for field assistance. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on a previous version of the manuscript.

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  1. EcoLab – Laboratoire d’écologie fonctionnelle, UMR 5245 CNRS-UPS-INPT, Université Paul Sabatier, Bâtiment 4R3 b2, 118 Route de Narbonne, Toulouse Cedex 9, 31062, France

    Amaia Iribar, José Miguel Sánchez-Pérez, Emilie Lyautey & Frédéric Garabétian

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  1. Amaia Iribar
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  2. José Miguel Sánchez-Pérez
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Iribar, A., Sánchez-Pérez, J.M., Lyautey, E. et al. Differentiated free-living and sediment-attached bacterial community structure inside and outside denitrification hotspots in the river–groundwater interface. Hydrobiologia 598, 109–121 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-9143-9

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