title: Dynamics of the microfauna community in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant experiencing sludge bulking.
abstract: We investigated the dynamics of the microfauna community in activated sludge, with special reference to sludge bulking, in two parallel municipal wastewater treatment systems in Beijing, China over a period of 14 months. Annual cyclic changes in microfauna community structures occurred in both systems. RELATE analysis based on Spearman's Rank correlation indicated that microfauna community structures were highly correlated with the sludge volume index (SVI) (p<0.001), which indicates sludge settleability. Nutrient conditions of raw sewage (p<0.01) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) (p<0.05) were also related to microfauna community structures. Abundances of the species Epistylis plicatilis and Vorticella striata increased significantly with an increase in SVI (p<0.001) and decrease in water temperature (p<0.001), suggesting that sludge bulking may have created favorable conditions for the two species, even under unfavorable temperature conditions. Sludge de-flocculation primarily due to the excessive growth of Microthrix parvicella-like filaments could be an important driving force for the microfauna community changes. The release of flocculated non-filamentous bacteria may represent a suitable food source for these species. The two species may be considered as potential bioindicators for sludge bulking.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Muqi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Haipeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004777:Environment; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D012722:Sewage / Q000469:parasitology*; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage
keywords: Activated sludge; Bioindicators; Micro-metazoans; Municipal wastewater; Protozoan microfauna; Sludge bulking