Title |
Assessing impacts of unconventional natural gas extraction on microbial communities in headwater stream ecosystems in Northwestern Pennsylvania
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Published in |
Frontiers in Microbiology, November 2014
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DOI | 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00522 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Ryan Trexler, Caroline Solomon, Colin J. Brislawn, Justin R. Wright, Abigail Rosenberger, Erin E. McClure, Alyssa M. Grube, Mark P. Peterson, Mehdi Keddache, Olivia U. Mason, Terry C. Hazen, Christopher J. Grant, Regina Lamendella |
Abstract |
Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have increased dramatically in Pennsylvania Marcellus shale formations, however the potential for major environmental impacts are still incompletely understood. High-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was performed to characterize the microbial community structure of water, sediment, bryophyte, and biofilm samples from 26 headwater stream sites in northwestern Pennsylvania with different histories of fracking activity within Marcellus shale formations. Further, we describe the relationship between microbial community structure and environmental parameters measured. Approximately 3.2 million 16S rRNA gene sequences were retrieved from a total of 58 samples. Microbial community analyses showed significant reductions in species richness as well as evenness in sites with Marcellus shale activity. Beta diversity analyses revealed distinct microbial community structure between sites with and without Marcellus shale activity. For example, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) within the Acetobacteracea, Methylocystaceae, Acidobacteriaceae, and Phenylobacterium were greater than three log-fold more abundant in MSA+ sites as compared to MSA- sites. Further, several of these OTUs were strongly negatively correlated with pH and positively correlated with the number of wellpads in a watershed. It should be noted that many of the OTUs enriched in MSA+ sites are putative acidophilic and/or methanotrophic populations. This study revealed apparent shifts in the autochthonous microbial communities and highlighted potential members that could be responding to changing stream conditions as a result of nascent industrial activity in these aquatic ecosystems. |
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Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Unknown | 2 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Members of the public | 2 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United States | 2 | 3% |
Canada | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 76 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
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Student > Bachelor | 18 | 23% |
Researcher | 15 | 19% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 11 | 14% |
Student > Master | 8 | 10% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 8 | 10% |
Other | 15 | 19% |
Unknown | 4 | 5% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
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Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 30 | 38% |
Environmental Science | 14 | 18% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 6 | 8% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 6 | 8% |
Social Sciences | 3 | 4% |
Other | 13 | 16% |
Unknown | 7 | 9% |