Ecotox-evaluation strategy for soil bioremediation exemplified for a PAH-contaminated site

Multi-Species Ecotoxicity Assessment of Petroleum-Contaminated Soil

“…The lack of synchrony by different groups of organisms in response to the loss of hydrocarbons that we saw has been observed in other studies (Hund and Traunspurger, 1994;Salanitro et al, 1997;Sayles et al, 1999). In general, the inhibition of plant growth persisted longer than the effects on invertebrate viability or toxicity measured by Microtoxâ (Salanitro et al, 1997;Hund and Traunspurger, 1994).…”

“…In general, the inhibition of plant growth persisted longer than the effects on invertebrate viability or toxicity measured by Microtoxâ (Salanitro et al, 1997;Hund and Traunspurger, 1994). Hund and Traunspurger (1994) also found that nematodes and nitrification were very sensitive to petroleum contamination: nematodes were not found in heavily contaminated soils and were still at much reduced densities after 4 months, ammonium oxidation showed partial recovery after 7 months, and nitrite oxidation after 10 months of bioremediation. In our study the relative numbers of different classes of aromatic hydrocarbondegrading bacteria reflected the expected sequence of loss of these hydrocarbons (monoaromatics first, followed by simple polyaromatics, then the more complex polyaromatics).…”

“…The phytotoxicity of petroleum products has been found to vary with the chemical composition of the petroleum, with smaller compounds of the same chemical class more toxic than larger compounds (Carr, 1919;Baker, 1970;Salanitro et al, 1997). Of particular relevance to this study is the variation in sensitivity of different species of plants (Baker, 1970;Hund and Traunspurger, 1994;Salanitro et al, 1997) and the stimulation of growth of soybeans and corn at low concentrations of naphthalenic compounds (Carr, 1919;Baker, 1970;Salanitro et al, 1997). This supports the interpretation that differences in the concentration and/or composition of petroleum hydrocarbons in the lysimeters may have affected plant species composition.…”

The use of biological activities to monitor the removal of fuel contaminants—perspective for monitoring hydrocarbon contamination: a review

“…In addition, the application of bioengineering to produce or enhance bioluminescence properties of organisms may lead to new systems for assessing environmental toxicity. The disadvantage of using bioluminescence is the possibility of bacteria adsorbing to soil particles and thereby being filtered out of suspension, resulting in lower luminescence than would correctly represent the level of soil toxicity (Hund and Traunspurger, 1994;Benton et al, 1995;Cook and Wells, 1996;Ringwood et al, 1997). For further information on bioluminescence, the reader is referred to Steinberg et al (1995).…”

“…These biological processes have varying degrees of success as monitoring tools. Reliable bioindicators must give interpretable response curves across a range of environmental parameters (Adema and Henzen, 1989;Hund and Traunspurger, 1994), otherwise environmental effects upon bioindicator response may confound extrapolation meant to depict the bioavail-ability and toxicity of contaminants in soil.…”