Freshwater quality assessment in Europe is established under the Water Frame Directive (WFD) based on measurements of chemical pollutants in sediments and water and biota (chemical status) and on the ecological indicators such as nutrients, temperature, species compositions etc. (ecological status). However in the current strategy a link between chemical and ecological status is missing. No biological indicators are foreseen to integrate the different anthropogenic pressures including chemical mixture, nutrients, temperature changes in order to provide a global scenario on the ecosystem and therefore on the water quality. In this context, MicroCokit FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IAPP project is focused on the identification of microbial community based indicators for monitoring and evaluating the complexity of multiple stressors (e.g. chemical pollutants, temperature, nutrients etc.) relevant to guide preventive and remediation actions by the water authorities. For this purpose the river Tiber has been chosen as a pilot case study and sampling sites were selected based on different anthropogenic pressures which they are exposed to. Water samples are being analyzed for both microbiological (FISH analysis and Metagenomic) and chemical analysis (organic and inorganic compounds, including emerging pollutants). Within the 4-years project, two campaigns are contemplated per year (Autumn and Spring). We report preliminary results of the chemical analyses (inorganic elements, DOC, PAHs, organochlorine, triazine, chloroacetamide pesticides, perfluorinated compounds, pharmaceuticals, etc.) and epifluorescence direct microscopy analyses (total microbial abundance and phylogenetic community characterization by FISH) regarding the first two campaigns. The preliminary results suggest that the microbial community structure reflects both natural environmental variations (river course and sesonality) and anthropogenic pressures. The same water samples are currently being processed for metagenomic analysis in order to obtain a broader description of the microbial community to be compared with the overall chemical results.
Linking multiple stressors to microbial community structure for water quality assessment
Barra Caracciolo A;Grenni P;Ademollo N;Patrolecco L;
2015
Abstract
Freshwater quality assessment in Europe is established under the Water Frame Directive (WFD) based on measurements of chemical pollutants in sediments and water and biota (chemical status) and on the ecological indicators such as nutrients, temperature, species compositions etc. (ecological status). However in the current strategy a link between chemical and ecological status is missing. No biological indicators are foreseen to integrate the different anthropogenic pressures including chemical mixture, nutrients, temperature changes in order to provide a global scenario on the ecosystem and therefore on the water quality. In this context, MicroCokit FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IAPP project is focused on the identification of microbial community based indicators for monitoring and evaluating the complexity of multiple stressors (e.g. chemical pollutants, temperature, nutrients etc.) relevant to guide preventive and remediation actions by the water authorities. For this purpose the river Tiber has been chosen as a pilot case study and sampling sites were selected based on different anthropogenic pressures which they are exposed to. Water samples are being analyzed for both microbiological (FISH analysis and Metagenomic) and chemical analysis (organic and inorganic compounds, including emerging pollutants). Within the 4-years project, two campaigns are contemplated per year (Autumn and Spring). We report preliminary results of the chemical analyses (inorganic elements, DOC, PAHs, organochlorine, triazine, chloroacetamide pesticides, perfluorinated compounds, pharmaceuticals, etc.) and epifluorescence direct microscopy analyses (total microbial abundance and phylogenetic community characterization by FISH) regarding the first two campaigns. The preliminary results suggest that the microbial community structure reflects both natural environmental variations (river course and sesonality) and anthropogenic pressures. The same water samples are currently being processed for metagenomic analysis in order to obtain a broader description of the microbial community to be compared with the overall chemical results.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
