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MOLECULAR EVALUATION OF CHANGES IN PLANKTONIC BACTERIAL POPULATION RESULTING FROM EQUINE FECAL CONTAMINATION IN A SUB-WATERSHED
Citation:
Simpson*, J M. AND J Santo Domingo. MOLECULAR EVALUATION OF CHANGES IN PLANKTONIC BACTERIAL POPULATION RESULTING FROM EQUINE FECAL CONTAMINATION IN A SUB-WATERSHED. Presented at WEFTEC 2002 Conference, Chicago, IL, 9/28-10/2/2002.
Description:
Contamination of watersheds by fecal bacteria is a frequent cause for surface waters to be placed on the national impaired waters list. However, since the presence of fecal bacteria does not always indicate human fecal input, it is necessary to distinguish between fecal sources. Recently, considerable emphasis has been placed on developing watershed-based strategies that have the potential to reduce non-point source fecal contamination. The most common water quality monitoring approach is to screen for fecal indicator bacteria using culturing methods. However, these methods cannot distinguish between contaminant sources. Described herein, molecular methods are being applied to a specific "known" contaminant source in an attempt to ascertain the applicability of using 16S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) targets to bettter determine sources of fecal contamination. The objectives of this study included: 1) determining if viable microorganisms present in an equine fecal contamination source affected planktonic bacterial communities downstream; and 2) determining if subpopulation of anaerobic fecal bacteria was detectable and traceable within stream waters. To address these objectives, a molecular fingerprinting method was applied and the identity of individual groups of microorganisms was determined using molecular microbiology methods.