Effects of Wetlands on Composition of Enterococci

Overview

Enterococci are most commonly utilized as Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB) in the monitoring of marine and fresh waters. Their concentrations indicate the probability of the presence of pathogens that may cause waterborne illnesses. The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve is a tidal salt marsh where estuarine water mixed with runoff contaminated by FIB enters the marsh system daily during flood tides. The goal of this project was to assess the tidal diversity and density of Enterococci in the marsh by assessing these variables during peak flood tides and ebb flows. During two sampling events, six grab samples were collected at the east tide gate: three replicate grab samples during the flood flow, and three replicates during the following ebb flow. Enterococci were cultured using membrane filtration to determine their density (colony forming units/100 ml). Fifteen colonies were randomly selected from the flood-flow set of plates, and 15 from the ebb-flow set, transferred to blood agar to obtain pure cultures, and then run through the Vitek 2 Compact biochemical identification and antibiotic susceptibility systems. Our initial results indicate that enterococci decreased during ebb flows, confirming results from previous studies that wetland processes reduce densities of this FIB group. A greater number of species were found in water entering the wetlands, with E. faecalis being the most abundant. Species unique in water leaving the wetland included E. casseliflavus and E. gallinarium, which have been associated with decomposing vegetation.

Competition history

• AJAS 2018 Category not listed

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