Assessment of the influence of intrinsic environmental and geographical factors on the bacterial ecology of pit latrines.

ABSTRACT: Improving the rate and extent of faecal decomposition in basic forms of sanitation such as pit latrines would benefit around 1.7 billion users worldwide, but to do so requires a major advance in our understanding of the biology of these systems. As a critical first step, bacterial diversity and composition was studied in 30 latrines in Tanzania and Vietnam using pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes, and correlated with a number of intrinsic environmental factors such as pH, temperature, organic matter content/composition and geographical factors. Clear differences were observed at the operational taxonomic unit, family and phylum level in terms of richness and community composition between latrines in Tanzania and Vietnam. The results also clearly show that environmental variables, particularl

SUBMITTER: Torondel B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4767293 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature