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Spore-forming bacteria as indicators of pollution in sediments of Lake Geneva
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Résumé
Two components: Endospore-forming Firmicutes are well known for their capacity to survive under harsh environmental conditions through the formation of strong and persistent structures called endospores. Sediments of the Bay of Vidy (Lake Geneva), that are well known for their heavy metal pollution. The question was: Are endospore-forming Firmicutes predominant members of the bacterial communities in the most impacted sediments? The co-occurrence of these two components was effectively observed, and four particular strains of Clostridia were identified as dominant. However, their presence could be related to a combination of a dysfunction of the waste water treatment plant infrastructure and their survival in the state of an endospore. Episodic flooding events in the waste water treatment plant is effectively strongly suspected and supported by the data collected during this thesis. At the end of this work, the dominance of this particular group of bacteria does not seem to be uniquely related to their resistance to high concentrations of heavy metals, but also to the environmental changes occurring during the waste water treatment process and/or during the burial of bacterial communities in sediments.
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Thèse de doctorat : Université de Neuchâtel, 2014
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Type de publication
doctoral thesis
