This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lindstrom, J E Articles by Brown, E J Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lindstrom, J E Articles by Brown, E J Agricola Articles by Lindstrom, J E Articles by Brown, E J

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1991 September; 57(9): 2514-2522

Microbial populations and hydrocarbon biodegradation potentials in fertilized shoreline sediments affected by the T/V Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Water Research Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks 99775-1760.

ABSTRACT

The effort of clean up the T/V Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, included the use of fertilizers to accelerate natural microbial degradation of stranded oil. A program to monitor various environmental parameters associated with this technique took place during the summer of 1990. Microbiological assays for numbers of heterotrophic and oil-degrading microbes and their hydrocarbon mineralization potentials were performed in support of this program. Fertilizer addition resulted in higher hexadecane and phenanthrene mineralization potentials on treated plots than on untreated reference plots. Microbial numbers in treated and reference surface sediments were not significantly different immediately after the first nutrient application in May 1990. However, subsurface sediments from treated plots had higher numbers of hydrocarbon degraders than did reference sediments shortly after treatment. The second application of fertilizer, later in summer, resulted in surface and subsurface increases in numbers of hydrocarbon degraders with respect to reference sediments at two of the three study sites. Elevated mineralization potentials, coupled with increased numbers of hydrocarbon degraders, indicated that natural hydrocarbon biodegradation was enhanced. However, these microbiological measurements alone are not sufficient to determine in situ rates of crude oil biodegradation.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Koren, O., Knezevic, V., Ron, E. Z., Rosenberg, E. (2003). Petroleum Pollution Bioremediation Using Water-Insoluble Uric Acid as the Nitrogen Source. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 6337-6339 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Margesin, R., Schinner, F. (2001). Bioremediation (Natural Attenuation and Biostimulation) of Diesel-Oil-Contaminated Soil in an Alpine Glacier Skiing Area. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 3127-3133 [Abstract] [Full Text]