Studies on the Impact of Sewage-Associated Microorganisms on Indigenous Seal and Bacterial Populations and Drinking Water Quality at McMurdo Station

麦克默多站污水相关微生物对本土海豹和细菌种群以及饮用水质量影响的研究

• 批准号: 9980425
• 负责人: John Lisle
• 金额: $ 16.79万
• 依托单位: University of Houston - Clear Lake
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-10-01 至 2002-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9980425&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Studies; Impact; Sewage; Associated; Microorganisms

McMurdo Station, Antarctica, has been releasing macerated, untreated human sewage into the pristine marine waters off the coast for years. The marine waters impacted by the sewage plume sometimes extend to the drinking water intake at Intake Jetty. Additionally, deposit feeding invertebrates located within the area impacted by the sewage effluents have been show to not only assimilate the nutrients associated with the sewage but also exhibit increased mean body and organ sizes. A previous study found preliminary, but inconclusive, evidence that the sewage-associated bacterium, clostridium perfringens, was colonizing Weddell seals feeding in the impacted area. It is hypothesized that (!) Weddell seals are being colonized by sewage -associated bacteria and viruses, (2) sewage-associated bacteria are exchanging their DNA with indigenous species, potentially altering the procaryotic gene pool of this ecosystem (3) sewage-associated bacteria and viruses are entering the drinking water system at McMurdo Station and (4) the current methods used to monitor the microbiological quality of marine and drinking waters at McMurdo Station are underestimating the risks associated with their respective contact and/or ingestion. These hypotheses will be addressed by using molecular techniques (e.g., pulse field gel electrophoresis, PCR), in situ microcosms for gene transfer experiments, more sensitive culture based techniques for determining the extent of sewage contamination in marine waters, sediments and seal feces and scat and performing the most extensive microbiological survey of the drinking water distribution system to date. A major focus of this work will be determining if the same C. perfringens genotypes that are present in the sewage are related to those isolated from seal feces and scat, marine waters and sediments and drinking water samples. This approach has been used in other systems to establish a direct epidemiological link between a bacterium's source and the colonized (infected) host. In general, the results from this study will provide information which can be used in the monitoring and design of remediation efforts of coastal waters off of McMurdo Station and other coastal waters around Antarctica that are being impacted by the discharge of untreated human sewage. The data will also be as a baseline for studies of ecosystem recovery following the planned installation of a sewage treatment plant at McMurdo Station.

南极洲的麦默多站多年来一直在向海岸外的原始海洋沃茨排放浸软的、未经处理的人类污水。 受污水羽流影响的海洋沃茨有时会延伸至取水码头的饮用水取水口。 此外，位于受污水流出物影响的区域内的存款喂养无脊椎动物已被证明不仅吸收与污水相关的营养物质，而且还表现出增加的平均身体和器官大小。 先前的一项研究发现了初步但非决定性的证据，表明与污水有关的细菌产气荚膜梭菌正在影响在受影响地区觅食的威德尔海豹。 假设（！）威德尔海豹正被与污水有关的细菌和病毒殖民，（2）与污水有关的细菌正在与本土物种交换DNA，潜在地改变了这个生态系统的原核基因库（3）污水相关的细菌和病毒正在进入麦默多站的饮用水系统;（4）目前用于监测麦默多站的海水和饮用沃茨的微生物质量的方法低估了与它们各自的接触和/或摄入相关的风险。这些假设将通过使用分子技术来解决（例如，脉冲场凝胶电泳（PCR）、用于基因转移实验的原位微宇宙、用于确定海洋沃茨、沉积物和海豹粪便和粪便中污水污染程度的更敏感的基于培养的技术，以及对饮用水分配系统进行迄今为止最广泛的微生物调查。 这项工作的一个主要重点将是确定是否相同的C。存在于污水中的产气荚膜杆菌基因型与从海豹粪便和粪便、海洋沃茨和沉积物以及饮用水样品中分离的产气荚膜杆菌基因型相关。 这种方法已被用于其他系统中，以建立细菌来源和定殖（感染）宿主之间的直接流行病学联系。总的来说，这项研究的结果将提供可用于监测和设计麦默多站附近沿海沃茨和南极洲周围其他受未经处理的人类污水排放影响的沿海沃茨的补救工作的信息。 这些数据还将作为计划在麦默多站安装污水处理厂后生态系统恢复研究的基线。