No abstract

Palabras clave: contaminación, biomonitores, metal pesado, río Daule, río Babahoyo RESUMEN En Ecuador existen evidencias de contaminación por cadmio en el Golfo de Guayaquil, sin embargo, poco se conoce sobre la contaminación por este metal en sus ríos afluentes. El propósito de la investigación fue evaluar la contaminación por cadmio en agua, sedimentos, jacinto de agua Eichhornia crassipes y en el caracol Pomacea canaliculata en los ríos Guayas, Daule y Babahoyo. Para ello, se muestrearon nueve estaciones en total, se tomaron cinco muestras de agua, cinco de sedimentos y cinco de organismos por localidad, se determinaron las concentraciones de Cd y los factores de bioconcentración (FBC). Además, se midieron los parámetros pH, temperatura y salinidad. El Cd en agua no fue detectable en los sitios estudiados, mientras que en sedimentos ocho de las nueve estaciones excedieron los límites máximos permisibles según la norma ecuatoriana y la norma canadiense de calidad ambiental. Sin embargo, las concentraciones biodisponibles del metal en el sedimento fueron inferiores al nivel de efecto probable (PEL) y al valor de referencia canadiense, minimizando los posibles daños a la biota. El jacinto de agua acumuló mayores concentraciones de Cd que el gasterópodo y presentó FBC mayores a uno, indicando que es un buen biomonitor de Cd, a diferencia del caracol. También se evidenció correlación entre los parámetros físicos y químicos y la disponibilidad del metal en el sedimento y su acumulación en los organismos. Se concluye que existe contaminación por Cd en los tres ríos y se propone el monitoreo anual de estos, utilizando la especie E. crassipes como biomonitora.

No abstract

Large amount of drilling waste associated with the expansion of the Orinoco Oil Belt (OOB), the biggest proven reserve of extra-heavy crude oil (EHCO) worldwide, is usually impregnated with EHCO and highly salinized water-based drilling fluids. Oxidative exoenzymes (OE) of the lignin-degrading enzyme system (LDS) of fungi catalyse the oxidation of a wide range of toxic pollutants. However, very little evidences on fungal degradation or biotransformation of EHCO have been reported, which contain high amounts of asphaltenes and its biodegradation rate is very limited. The aims of this work were to study the ability of Pestalotiopsis palmarum BM-04 to synthesize OE, its potential to biotransform EHCO and to survive in extreme environmental conditions. Enzymatic studies of the LDS showed the ability of this fungus to overproduce high amounts of laccase (LACp) in presence of wheat bran or lignin peroxidase (LIPp) with EHCO as sole carbon and energy source (1300 U mgP−1 in both cases). FT-IR spectroscopy with Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) analysis showed the enzymatic oxidation of carbon and sulfur atoms in both maltenes and asphaltenes fractions of biotreated EHCO catalysed by cell-free laccase-enriched OE using wheat bran as inducer. UV-visible spectrophotometry analysis revealed the oxidation of the petroporphyrins in the asphaltenes fraction of biotreated EHCO. Tolerance assays showed the ability of this fungus to grow up to 50 000 p.p.m. of EHCO and 2000 mM of NaCl. These results suggest that P. palmarum BM-04 is a hopeful alternative to be used in remediation processes in extreme environmental conditions of salinity and EHCO contamination, such as the drilling waste from the OOB.

Biocorrosion, as well as the biodeterioration of crude oil and its derivatives, is one of the major environmental, operational and economic problems in the Venezuelan oil industry. Fungal contaminants are able to produce large quantities of biomass and synthesize peroxides and organic acids, causing severe damage on metal surfaces and promoting the contamination and biodeterioration of fuels. No evidences regarding fungal strains have been reported to be associated to petroleum naphtha, widely used as a diluent of extra heavy crude oil (EHCO) in the exploitation processes of the Orinoco Oil Belt, the biggest proven reserve of EHCO worldwide. The aims of this paper were to isolate and identify fungal strains from the naphtha storage tank and the naphtha distribution network from an oil field operator in Venezuela. The results showed the isolation of four different fungal strains. The molecular identification by 28S rRNA sequencing and phylogenetic tree analysis allowed us to identify the presence of: 1) a new uncultured Ascomycota fungus species BM-103, with high identity to novel hyphomycetes Noosia banksiae and Sporidesmium tengii, in the naphtha storage tank; 2) two yeasts, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa BM-104 (Phylum Basidiomycota) and Wickerhamia sp. BM-105 (Phylum Ascomycota), in a highly damaged naphtha pipeline branch and; 3) Cladosporium cladosporioides BM-102 (Phylum Ascomycota) in a cluster oil well. DNA fingerprinting analysis using ERIC-PCR primers pairs also allowed us to detect the presence of R. mucilaginosa BM-104 right in the access of the studied naphtha system. Interestingly, R. mucilaginosa and C. cladosporioides were previously reported as predominant fungal contaminants of diesel and jet fuel and of kerosene and fuel storage systems, respectively. This paper represents the first evidence of fungal strains isolated and identified from the naphtha systems in the Venezuelan oil industry. The results obtained are discussed. L. Naranjo et al.144