The relationship of chromium and selected heavy metals on the microbial community structure in sediments

The purpose of this research was to determine if chromium and selected heavy metals have a relationship the microbial community structure in sediments. Soils contaminated with chromium as a result of waste discharge from a former leather tannery afforded an opportunity to study these influences. Sediment samples were taken from diverse environmental settings and analyzed for total metal concentrations, chromium partitioning and microbial community structure. Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (TRFLP) analyses was conducted to determine the structure of the microbial community. Multivariate statistical techniques were used to examine the relationships among sediment geochemistry and microbial communities. The results show that the microbial community structure be related to: (1) total chromium concentrations, (2) partitioning of chromium among soil phases and (3) total organic matter concentrations. Other elements did not seem to have a relationship with the microbial communities.