Biodiversity and succession of microbial community in a multi-habitat membrane bioreactor

The present study focused on establishing a multi-habitat membrane bioreactor, as well as exploring its biodiversity and succession of microbial communities. In a long-term operational period (100 days), the dissolved oxygen level of a local zone within the bioreactor decreased consistently from the original oxic state to the final anaerobic state, which led to a continuous succession of the microbial community in the bioreactor. The results revealed that the biodiversity of the microbial community in different zones simultaneously increased, with a similar microbial composition in their final successional stage. The results also indicated that the dominant species during the whole operation were distributed among 6 major phyla. At the initial operational stages, the dominant species in the anoxic–anaerobic and the oxic zones exhibited distinguished difference, whereas at the final operational stage, both zones presented nearly the same dominant microbial species and a rather similar structure in their microbial communities.