Date of Graduation

8-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biology (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Biological Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Douglas, Michael E.

Committee Member

Lewis, Jeffrey A.

Second Committee Member

Douglas, Marlis R.

Third Committee Member

Carbonero, Franck G.

Keywords

Biological sciences; Earth sciences; Biofilm; Bioinformatics; Bioremediators; Fracking; Microorganism; Streams

Abstract

In the past decade, 29 shale basins have been actively developed across 20 states for extraction of natural gas (NG) via horizontal drilling/hydraulic fracturing (=fracking). This includes ~5000 wells within the Fayetteville shale of north-central Arkansas. Development often impacts both river- and landscapes, and management requires catchment-level evaluations over time, with organismal presence/absence as indicators. For this study next-generation sequencing was used to identify/characterize microbial communities within biofilm of eight Arkansas River tributaries, so as to gauge potential catchment influences. Streams spanned a gradient of landscape features and hydrological flows, with four serving as ‘potentially impacted catchment zones’ (PICZ) and four as ‘minimally impacted catchment zones’ (MICZ). Overall, 46 bacterial phyla and 141 classes were identified, with 24 phyla (52%) and 54 classes (38%) extending across samples. A principal coordinate analysis arrayed samples according to stream order, suggesting a relationship between communities and gradients. With regard to river- and landscape disturbance, three preliminary indicators emerged: (1) Synechococcophycideae and Oscillatoriophycideae (=Cyanobacteria that act as primary producers exhibiting a positive correlation with increased nitrogen and phosphorus) were significantly more abundant at PICZ sites (P

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