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Updated: Mar 28, 2026
Methods for Characterizing the Co-development of Biofilm and Habitat Heterogeneity
Published on: March 11, 2015
Community shift of biofilms developed in a full-scale drinking water distribution system switching from different
Weiying Li1, Feng Wang2, Junpeng Zhang3
1Key Laboratory of Yangtze Aquatic Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
Abstract:
The bacterial community of biofilms in drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) with various water sources has been rarely reported. In this research, biofilms were sampled at three points (A, B, and C) during the river water source phase (phase I), the interim period (phase II) and the reservoir water source phase (phase III), and the biofilm community was determined using the 454-pyrosequencing method. Results showed that microbial diversity declined in phase II but increased in phase III. The primary phylum was Proteobacteria during three phases, while the dominant class at points A and B was Betaproteobacteria (>49%) during all phases, but that changed to Holophagae in phase II (62.7%) and Actinobacteria in phase III (35.6%) for point C, which was closely related to its water quality. More remarkable community shift was found at the genus level. In addition, analysis results showed that water quality could significantly affect microbial diversity together, while the nutrient composition (e.g. C/N ration) of the water environment might determine the microbial community. Furthermore, Mycobacterium spp. and Pseudomonas spp. were detected in the biofilm, which should give rise to attention. This study revealed that water source switching produced substantial impact on the biofilm community.
