Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Bacterial Biomarkers of Marcellus Shale Activity in Pennsylvania

Abstract

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction, also known as hydraulic fracturing, is becoming more prevalent with the increasing use and demand for natural gas; however, the full extent of its environmental impacts is still unknown. Here we measured physicochemical properties and bacterial community composition of sediment samples taken from twenty-eight streams within the Marcellus shale formation in northeastern Pennsylvania differentially impacted by hydraulic fracturing activities. Fourteen of the streams were classified as UOG+, and thirteen were classified as UOG- based on the presence of UOG extraction in their respective watersheds. One stream was located in a watershed that previously had UOG extraction activities but was recently abandoned. We utilized high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to infer differences in sediment aquatic bacterial community structure between UOG+ and UOG- streams, as well as correlate bacterial community structure to physicochemical water parameters. Although overall alpha and beta diversity differences were not observed, there were a plethora of significantly enriched operational taxonomic units (OTUs) within UOG+ and UOG- samples. Our biomarker analysis revealed many of the bacterial taxa enriched in UOG+ streams can live in saline conditions, such as Rubrobacteraceae. In addition, several bacterial taxa capable of hydrocarbon degradation were also enrichedmore » in UOG+ samples, including Oceanospirillaceae. Methanotrophic taxa, such as Methylococcales, were significantly enriched as well. Several taxa that were identified as enriched in these samples were enriched in samples taken from different streams in 2014; moreover, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed clustering between streams from the different studies based on the presence of hydraulic fracturing along the second axis. This study revealed significant differences between bacterial assemblages within stream sediments of UOG+ and UOG- streams and identified several potential biomarkers for evaluating and monitoring the response of autochthonous bacterial communities to potential hydraulic fracturing impacts.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Juniata Univ., Huntingdon, PA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  4. Susquehanna Univ., Selinsgrove, PA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1470846
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1479435
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Frontiers in Microbiology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: n/a; Journal ID: ISSN 1664-302X
Publisher:
Frontiers Research Foundation
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Chen See, Jeremy R., Ulrich, Nikea, Nwanosike, Hephzibah, McLimans, Christopher J., Tokarev, Vasily, Wright, Justin R., Campa, Maria F., Grant, Christopher J., Hazen, Terry C., Niles, Jonathan M., Ressler, Daniel, and Lamendella, Regina. Bacterial Biomarkers of Marcellus Shale Activity in Pennsylvania. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.01697.
Copy to clipboard
Chen See, Jeremy R., Ulrich, Nikea, Nwanosike, Hephzibah, McLimans, Christopher J., Tokarev, Vasily, Wright, Justin R., Campa, Maria F., Grant, Christopher J., Hazen, Terry C., Niles, Jonathan M., Ressler, Daniel, & Lamendella, Regina. Bacterial Biomarkers of Marcellus Shale Activity in Pennsylvania. United States. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01697
Copy to clipboard
Chen See, Jeremy R., Ulrich, Nikea, Nwanosike, Hephzibah, McLimans, Christopher J., Tokarev, Vasily, Wright, Justin R., Campa, Maria F., Grant, Christopher J., Hazen, Terry C., Niles, Jonathan M., Ressler, Daniel, and Lamendella, Regina. Thu . "Bacterial Biomarkers of Marcellus Shale Activity in Pennsylvania". United States. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01697. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1470846.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1470846,
title = {Bacterial Biomarkers of Marcellus Shale Activity in Pennsylvania},
author = {Chen See, Jeremy R. and Ulrich, Nikea and Nwanosike, Hephzibah and McLimans, Christopher J. and Tokarev, Vasily and Wright, Justin R. and Campa, Maria F. and Grant, Christopher J. and Hazen, Terry C. and Niles, Jonathan M. and Ressler, Daniel and Lamendella, Regina},
abstractNote = {Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction, also known as hydraulic fracturing, is becoming more prevalent with the increasing use and demand for natural gas; however, the full extent of its environmental impacts is still unknown. Here we measured physicochemical properties and bacterial community composition of sediment samples taken from twenty-eight streams within the Marcellus shale formation in northeastern Pennsylvania differentially impacted by hydraulic fracturing activities. Fourteen of the streams were classified as UOG+, and thirteen were classified as UOG- based on the presence of UOG extraction in their respective watersheds. One stream was located in a watershed that previously had UOG extraction activities but was recently abandoned. We utilized high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to infer differences in sediment aquatic bacterial community structure between UOG+ and UOG- streams, as well as correlate bacterial community structure to physicochemical water parameters. Although overall alpha and beta diversity differences were not observed, there were a plethora of significantly enriched operational taxonomic units (OTUs) within UOG+ and UOG- samples. Our biomarker analysis revealed many of the bacterial taxa enriched in UOG+ streams can live in saline conditions, such as Rubrobacteraceae. In addition, several bacterial taxa capable of hydrocarbon degradation were also enriched in UOG+ samples, including Oceanospirillaceae. Methanotrophic taxa, such as Methylococcales, were significantly enriched as well. Several taxa that were identified as enriched in these samples were enriched in samples taken from different streams in 2014; moreover, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed clustering between streams from the different studies based on the presence of hydraulic fracturing along the second axis. This study revealed significant differences between bacterial assemblages within stream sediments of UOG+ and UOG- streams and identified several potential biomarkers for evaluating and monitoring the response of autochthonous bacterial communities to potential hydraulic fracturing impacts.},
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2018.01697},
journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology},
number = n/a,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {8}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01697
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 1 work
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

Metagenome, metatranscriptome and single-cell sequencing reveal microbial response to Deepwater Horizon oil spill
journal, June 2012

  • Mason, Olivia U.; Hazen, Terry C.; Borglin, Sharon
  • The ISME Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2012.59

Genome sequence of a high agarase-producing strain Flammeovirga sp. SJP92
journal, January 2017

The Contribution of Headwater Streams to Biodiversity in River Networks1: The Contribution of Headwater Streams to Biodiversity in River Networks
journal, January 2007

  • Meyer, Judy L.; Strayer, David L.; Wallace, J. Bruce
  • JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, Vol. 43, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2007.00008.x

Indigenous oil-degrading bacteria in crude oil-contaminated seawater of the Yellow sea, China
journal, May 2014

  • Wang, Wanpeng; Zhong, Rongqiu; Shan, Dapeng
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Vol. 98, Issue 16
  • DOI: 10.1007/s00253-014-5817-1

A network-based approach to disturbance transmission through microbial interactions
journal, October 2015

Landscapes and Riverscapes: The Influence of Land Use on Stream Ecosystems
journal, December 2004

Enrichment and isolation of crude oil degrading bacteria from some mussels collected from the Persian Gulf
journal, December 2015

Impact to Underground Sources of Drinking Water and Domestic Wells from Production Well Stimulation and Completion Practices in the Pavillion, Wyoming, Field
journal, March 2016

  • DiGiulio, Dominic C.; Jackson, Robert B.
  • Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 50, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b04970

Relationships between Benthic Sediments and Water Column Phosphorus in Illinois Streams
journal, January 2009

  • McDaniel, Marshall D.; David, Mark B.; Royer, Todd V.
  • Journal of Environment Quality, Vol. 38, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.2134/jeq2008.0094

Assessment of heavy metal pollution in the urban stream sediments and its tributaries
journal, June 2010

  • Sekabira, K.; Origa, H. Oryem; Basamba, T. A.
  • International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 7, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1007/BF03326153

CoNet app: inference of biological association networks using Cytoscape
journal, January 2016

Predictive functional profiling of microbial communities using 16S rRNA marker gene sequences
journal, August 2013

  • Langille, Morgan G. I.; Zaneveld, Jesse; Caporaso, J. Gregory
  • Nature Biotechnology, Vol. 31, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2676

Impact of Shale Gas Development on Regional Water Quality
journal, May 2013

Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities Show Distinct Recovery Patterns during Forest Ecosystem Restoration
journal, May 2017

  • Sun, Shan; Li, Song; Avera, Bethany N.
  • Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 83, Issue 14
  • DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00966-17

The Environmental Costs and Benefits of Fracking
journal, October 2014

Metatranscriptome analysis of active microbial communities in produced water samples from the Marcellus Shale
journal, July 2016

Microbial metabolisms in a 2.5-km-deep ecosystem created by hydraulic fracturing in shales
journal, September 2016

The Microbiome and Occurrence of Methanotrophy in Carnivorous Sponges
journal, November 2016

  • Hestetun, Jon T.; Dahle, Håkon; Jørgensen, Steffen L.
  • Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 7
  • DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01781

Novel hydrolytic extremely halotolerant alkaliphiles from mature landfill leachate with key involvement in maturation process
journal, September 2016

  • Remmas, Nikolaos; Melidis, Paraschos; Voltsi, Chrysoula
  • Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, Vol. 52, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1080/10934529.2016.1229931

An overview on exploration and environmental impact of unconventional gas sources and treatment options for produced water
journal, September 2017

  • Silva, Tânia L. S.; Morales-Torres, Sergio; Castro-Silva, Sérgio
  • Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 200
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.06.002

Exploring the Roles of DNA Methylation in the Metal-Reducing Bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR-1
journal, August 2013

  • Bendall, M. L.; Luong, K.; Wetmore, K. M.
  • Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 195, Issue 21
  • DOI: 10.1128/JB.00935-13

Naive Bayesian Classifier for Rapid Assignment of rRNA Sequences into the New Bacterial Taxonomy
journal, June 2007

  • Wang, Q.; Garrity, G. M.; Tiedje, J. M.
  • Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 73, Issue 16
  • DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00062-07

Global patterns of 16S rRNA diversity at a depth of millions of sequences per sample
journal, June 2010

  • Caporaso, J. G.; Lauber, C. L.; Walters, W. A.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 108, Issue Supplement_1
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1000080107

Increased stray gas abundance in a subset of drinking water wells near Marcellus shale gas extraction
journal, June 2013

  • Jackson, R. B.; Vengosh, A.; Darrah, T. H.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 28
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1221635110

Efflux as a Glutaraldehyde Resistance Mechanism in Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms
journal, March 2015

  • Vikram, Amit; Bomberger, Jennifer M.; Bibby, Kyle J.
  • Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Vol. 59, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1128/AAC.05152-14

Aerobic biodegradation of organic compounds in hydraulic fracturing fluids
journal, June 2015

Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater consumption associated with Bakken tight oil
journal, November 2016

  • Laurenzi, Ian J.; Bergerson, Joule A.; Motazedi, Kavan
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, Issue 48
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1607475113

People, pollution and pathogens – Global change impacts in mountain freshwater ecosystems
journal, May 2018

Temporal Changes in Microbial Ecology and Geochemistry in Produced Water from Hydraulically Fractured Marcellus Shale Gas Wells
journal, May 2014

  • Cluff, Maryam A.; Hartsock, Angela; MacRae, Jean D.
  • Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 48, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1021/es501173p

Search and clustering orders of magnitude faster than BLAST
journal, August 2010

Produced Water Exposure Alters Bacterial Response to Biocides
journal, October 2014

  • Vikram, Amit; Lipus, Daniel; Bibby, Kyle
  • Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 48, Issue 21
  • DOI: 10.1021/es5036915

Hydraulic fracturing offers view of microbial life in the deep terrestrial subsurface
journal, August 2016

  • Mouser, Paula J.; Borton, Mikayla; Darrah, Thomas H.
  • FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Vol. 92, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiw166

Changes in water and sediment bacterial community structure in a lake receiving acid mine drainage
journal, July 1983

  • Wassel, Raymond A.; Mills, Aaron L.
  • Microbial Ecology, Vol. 9, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1007/BF02015128

Toward strategic management of shale gas development: Regional, collective impacts on water resources
journal, March 2012

Metagenomic biomarker discovery and explanation
journal, January 2011

Biodegradation of n-alkanes on oil–seawater interfaces at different temperatures and microbial communities associated with the degradation
journal, February 2018

Bacterial communities associated with hydraulic fracturing fluids in thermogenic natural gas wells in North Central Texas, USA
journal, November 2011

Response of Aquatic Bacterial Communities to Hydraulic Fracturing in Northwestern Pennsylvania: A Five-Year Study
journal, April 2018

Bacterial diversity in Fez tanneries and Morocco's Binlamdoune River, using 16S RNA gene based fingerprinting
journal, December 2010

Microbial composition affects the functioning of estuarine sediments
journal, December 2012

Short pyrosequencing reads suffice for accurate microbial community analysis
journal, August 2007

  • Liu, Z.; Lozupone, C.; Hamady, M.
  • Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 35, Issue 18
  • DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkm541

PATRIC, the bacterial bioinformatics database and analysis resource
journal, November 2013

  • Wattam, Alice R.; Abraham, David; Dalay, Oral
  • Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 42, Issue D1
  • DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkt1099

Soil-foraging animals alter the composition and co-occurrence of microbial communities in a desert shrubland
journal, May 2015

  • Eldridge, David J.; Woodhouse, Jason N.; Curlevski, Nathalie J. A.
  • The ISME Journal, Vol. 9, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2015.70

Shale gas development impacts on surface water quality in Pennsylvania
journal, March 2013

  • Olmstead, S. M.; Muehlenbachs, L. A.; Shih, J. -S.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 13
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1213871110

Cytoscape: A Software Environment for Integrated Models of Biomolecular Interaction Networks
journal, November 2003

QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data
journal, April 2010

  • Caporaso, J. Gregory; Kuczynski, Justin; Stombaugh, Jesse
  • Nature Methods, Vol. 7, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.f.303

Benthic Bacterial Community Composition in the Oligohaline-Marine Transition of Surface Sediments in the Baltic Sea Based on rRNA Analysis
journal, February 2018

Bacterioplankton Community Composition along a Salinity Gradient of Sixteen High-Mountain Lakes Located on the Tibetan Plateau, China
journal, August 2006

  • Wu, Q. L.; Zwart, G.; Schauer, M.
  • Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 72, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00767-06

The Deep-Sea Microbial Community from the Amazonian Basin Associated with Oil Degradation
journal, June 2017

Metagenomic characterization of biodiversity in the extremely arid desert soils of Kazakhstan
journal, May 2015

  • Kutovaya, O. V.; Lebedeva, M. P.; Tkhakakhova, A. K.
  • Eurasian Soil Science, Vol. 48, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1134/S106422931505004X

Ecological Risks of Shale Oil and Gas Development to Wildlife, Aquatic Resources and their Habitats
journal, September 2014

  • Brittingham, Margaret C.; Maloney, Kelly O.; Farag, Aïda M.
  • Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 48, Issue 19
  • DOI: 10.1021/es5020482

CytoGEDEVO—global alignment of biological networks with Cytoscape
journal, December 2015

Using Discriminant Analysis to Determine Sources of Salinity in Shallow Groundwater Prior to Hydraulic Fracturing
journal, August 2014

  • Lautz, Laura K.; Hoke, Gregory D.; Lu, Zunli
  • Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 48, Issue 16
  • DOI: 10.1021/es502244v

Enriching acid rock drainage related microbial communities from surface-deposited oil sands tailings
journal, October 2016

  • Dean, Courtney; Xiao, Yeyuan; Roberts, Deborah J.
  • Canadian Journal of Microbiology, Vol. 62, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1139/cjm-2016-0137

Effects of forestry operations on dissolved organic carbon concentrations and export in boreal first-order streams: FORESTRY EFFECTS ON DOC AND C EXPORT
journal, February 2012

  • Schelker, J.; Eklöf, K.; Bishop, K.
  • Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol. 117, Issue G1
  • DOI: 10.1029/2011JG001827

Impacts of Glutaraldehyde on Microbial Community Structure and Degradation Potential in Streams Impacted by Hydraulic Fracturing
journal, April 2018

  • Campa, Maria Fernanda; Techtmann, Stephen M.; Gibson, Caleb M.
  • Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 52, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b00239

Do biofilm communities respond to the chemical signatures of fracking? A test involving streams in North-central Arkansas
journal, February 2017

  • Johnson, Wilson H.; Douglas, Marlis R.; Lewis, Jeffrey A.
  • BMC Microbiology, Vol. 17, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1186/s12866-017-0926-5

EMPeror: a tool for visualizing high-throughput microbial community data
journal, November 2013

  • Vázquez-Baeza, Yoshiki; Pirrung, Meg; Gonzalez, Antonio
  • GigaScience, Vol. 2, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1186/2047-217X-2-16

Assessing impacts of unconventional natural gas extraction on microbial communities in headwater stream ecosystems in Northwestern Pennsylvania
journal, November 2014

Bacterial diversity, community structure and potential growth rates along an estuarine salinity gradient
journal, August 2012

Isolation and Characterization of thecis-trans-Unsaturated Fatty Acid Isomerase ofPseudomonas oleovorans GPo12
journal, May 1999

    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Shale gas development has limited effects on stream biology and geochemistry in a gradient-based, multiparameter study in Pennsylvania
    journal, February 2020

    • Mumford, Adam C.; Maloney, Kelly O.; Akob, Denise M.
    • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 117, Issue 7
    • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1911458117

    Surface Water Microbial Community Response to the Biocide 2,2-Dibromo-3-Nitrilopropionamide, Used in Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction
    journal, August 2019

    • Campa, Maria Fernanda; Techtmann, Stephen M.; Ladd, Mallory P.
    • Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 85, Issue 21
    • DOI: 10.1128/aem.01336-19
      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: