Response of microbial populations to environmental disturbance

Abstract

Taxonomic and genetic diversities of microbial communities disturbed by chemical pollutants were lower than in undisturbed reference communities. The dominant populations within the disturbed communities had enhanced physiological tolerances and substrate utilization capabilities, indicating that generalized physiological versatility is an adaptive characteristic of populations that successfully compete within disturbed communities.

Evaluation of microbial diversity of different soil layers at a contaminated diesel site

“…4 and 6) can be attributed to the changes in the composition of microbial populations brought about by changes in hydrocarbon content (Atlas et al, 1991;Wunsche et al, 1995). The higher diversity in the topsoil indicated by the Shannon diversity index (Table 1) can be ascribed to the relatively large amount of nutrients (organic matter and possibly limiting nutrients) in the topsoil than in the other soil layers.…”

“…The effect of hydrocarbon contamination on soil microbial communities has been extensively studied, for example by Atlas et al (1991), Wunsche et al (1995), Lindstrom et al (1999), MacNaughton et al (1999), Stephen et al (1999), Juck et al (2000) and Bundy et al (2002). However, these studies used mainly topsoil to investigate the effect of hydrocarbons on soil microbial communities.…”

Multispecies and Monoculture Rhizoremediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the Soil

“…This can be attributed to the change in microbial diversity due to the presence of PAH. The availability of hydrophobic pollutants has been reported to cause significant changes in soil microbial communities (Saxton and Atlas, 1977;Atlas et al, 1991;Wünsche et al, 1995). The metabolic fingerprint of the PAH-contaminated soil was more closely related to the contaminated monoplanted treatment with Brachiaria serrata and contaminated multiplanted soil with Brachiaria serrata and Eleusine corocana than to other treatments.…”

Ecotoxicological Tests in Winogradsky Columns Contaminated by Used Lubricating Oil and Biodiesel

“…Only 1 liter of lubricating oil is enough to contaminate one million liters of water (Atlas et al, 1991). The lubricating oil used has good degradability due to the action of compression and heat inside the car engines, leading to the breakdown of large carbon chains, which makes it less polar.…”

“…Thus, a viable alternative in the applicability of remediation techniques is the environmental degradation that occurs through the enzymatic action of microorganisms, which convert organic chemicals by changing their molecular structures (Alexander, 1981;Atlas et al, 1991;Crapez, 1982). The process can be limited by several factors: the presence of nutrients, composition of the biota, salinity, dissolved oxygen concentration in the water, temperature and nature of the pollutant.…”