"IN SITU" ANALYSIS OF "NITROSOMONAS" SPP. IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT WETLAND BIOFILMS

In this study, the bacterial nitrifying community of a subsurface flow dairy effluent treatment wetland was monitored over a five-month period. Biofilms and effluent were removed and analysed using fluorescently labelled oligonucleotide probes targetting Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrosomonas eutropha. A crude semi-quantitative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) procedure was designed and used, in conjonction with FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridisation) on cryosectionned biofilms and effluent samples in order to verify the observations made using hybridisation with fluorescent probes.