Effects of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates on functional diversity of microbial communities in soil

Linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) often occur in sewage sludge that is applied to agricultural soil. Here LAS may affect the microbial activity, which is an important basis for nutrient cycling. Previous studies have shown that single bacterial species and specific soil processes can be very sensitive to LAS.

Here we report that two levels of LAS, 22 and 174 mg/kg dry weight soil, had little or no significant influence of the functional diversity of bacteria in a sandy soil, as tested by community-level physiological profiles. Briefly, these profiles are a characterization of the microbial communities based on the pattern of substrate utilization in 96-well microtiter plates (Biolog EcoPlates).

Sandy agricultural soil was incubated in duplicate 1-L mesocosms with or without LAS, and bacteria were extracted after one, two, and four weeks. During incubation, more than 98 and 93% of LAS added to 22 and 174 mg/kg dry weight soil was degraded, respectively. The presence of LAS at 174 mg/kg dry weight caused a higher number of bacteria in the soil extracts, maximally corresponding to 2.5 times the numbers in LAS-free soil (1.8 x 10(7) cells/g dry wt soil) after four weeks of incubation.

No inhibitory effect of LAS was observed when the substrate utilization data were analyzed for substrate richness and diversity (Shannon-Weaver indices). Principal component analysis, however, showed that the pattern of substrate utilization in soil with the highest LAS content (174 mg/kg dry wt) could be distinguished from control soil and soil with 22 mg LAS/kg dry weight.

Yet the overall conclusion was that the functional diversity of the aerobic, heterotrophic bacterial community was rather insensitive to LAS.