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Browsing by Author "Oliver, Jason"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Origin and development of fungal communities in an engineered biofilter
    (2017-05-09) Oliver, Jason; Song, Zewei; Schilling, Jonathan S; schillin@umn.edu; Schilling, Jonathan
    Microbial communities underpin the performance of biofilters used for treating pollutants, but community ‘seeding’ and development is not well understood, particularly for fungi. Fungi have unique biocatalytic potential in biofilters, and identifying their inoculum sources and community succession can inform design and management strategies to improve biofilter operation. Our goal was to track fungal community development in a full-scale woodchip biofilter treating air exhaust from a swine barn facility. We sequenced fungal ITS-1 amplicons 1) from potential inoculum sources (fresh wood chip media; manure from pits below pig housing) and 2) from wood chip biofilms at the inlet and outlet of the biofilter, sampling annually over 3 years. Inlet and outlet fungal communities were distinct at the outset, but became increasingly similar by year 3. A shift from Basidiomycetes and yeasts to Ascomycetes and molds was associated with a loss of richness as the community became dominated by fungi that originated from the manure exhaust. Notably, dominant taxa were pig skin dermatophytes, likely seeded continuously from within the barn. These patterns differ from those in natural wood decomposition studies, and the results suggest that hygiene within the barn will affect the performance of biofilters located outside of the barn, an aspect of biofilter management that has not been exploited. These ‘upstream’ inoculum effects may complicate management, however, our results identify several candidate fungi and an avenue for increasing inoculum potential on a continuous basis that might be valuable for seeding biofilters, improving control, and reduce lag-times during biofilter development.
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    Role of Fungi in the Biofiltration of Livestock Housing and Manure Storage Emissions
    (2015-08) Oliver, Jason
    Biofilters use porous media colonized by microbial biofilms to capture and degrade odorous, hazardous and greenhouse gases making them well-suited for livestock housing and manure storage emissions. Fungi are abundant in these biofilters though their dynamics, degradation of media, community shifts, and functional roles have not been well-investigated. To explore spatial and temporal fungal dynamics in full-scale woodchip biofilters treating swine barn emissions, a novel monitoring approach was developed. Using wooden baits and microbial measures optimized to target biofilms biofilter fungi were characterized and shown to tolerate media desiccation. Additionally, successional patterns at the taxa and guild level were studied, and the development of a dominant fungal community was identified. To address the practical question of media longevity, a litter bag study was deployed in the same full-scale biofilters. Decay rates of various media types were identified, and microbial decay was dependent on media quality, nitrogen, and emissions levels. Using a lab-scale biofilter system, fungi were shown to improve the capture of methane, particularly after periods of low-concentration inlet emissions. Using a chromatographic isotherm the ability of fungi to sorb methane gas was verified for the first time. Collectively, this work showcases dynamics and potential abilities of fungi in biofilters treating livestock production emission and may be used to guide subsequent efforts to connect fungi to biofilter function. If these processes can be understood and controlled, there is the potential to improving biofilter performance, better protect air quality and improve farming system sustainability.