Microbial Ecology of Anaerobic Digestion

Anaerobic digestion contains diverse microbial communities with functions complementary to each other at different trophic levels for degrading organic carbon. A comprehensive understanding of microbial communities from taxonomic compositions, microbial diversity, and microbial interactions can benefit biogas production and maintain process stability. Application of ecological theories such as community assembly mechanisms or the r/K selection theory can be utilized to improve system management. Community assembly is mainly dependent on the deterministic processes, implying that community responses to operational adjustments may be predictable. However, stochastic processes can have contributions under some scenarios. In anaerobic digestion systems, the r/K ecological selection theory can be applied to enrich specific types of microorganisms, such as electroactive Geobacter, and to remove low-concentration pollutants by enriching K-strategists.