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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2001, p. 5107-5112, Vol. 67, No. 11
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.11.5107-5112.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Effects of Low Temperature and Freeze-Thaw Cycles on Hydrocarbon Biodegradation in Arctic Tundra Soil

Mikael Eriksson,1 Jong-Ok Ka,2 and William W. Mohn3,*

Department of Biotechnology, Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden1; School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Suwon 441-744, South Korea2; and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada3

Received 4 May 2001/Accepted 29 August 2001

Degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons was monitored in microcosms with diesel fuel-contaminated Arctic tundra soil incubated for 48 days at low temperatures (-5, 0, and 7°C). An additional treatment was incubation for alternating 24-h periods at 7 and -5°C. Hydrocarbons were biodegraded at or above 0°C, and freeze-thaw cycles may have actually stimulated hydrocarbon biodegradation. Total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal over 48 days in the 7, 0, and 7 and -5°C treatments, respectively, was 450, 300, and 600 µg/g of soil. No TPH removal was observed at -5°C. Total carbon dioxide production suggested that TPH removal was due to biological mineralization. Bacterial metabolic activity, indicated by RNA/DNA ratios, was higher in the middle of the experiment (day 21) than at the start, in agreement with measured hydrocarbon removal and carbon dioxide production activities. The total numbers of culturable heterotrophs and of hydrocarbon degraders did not change significantly over the 48 days of incubation in any of the treatments. At the end of the experiment, bacterial community structure, evaluated by ribosomal intergenic spacer length analysis, was very similar in all of the treatments but the alternating 7 and -5°C treatment.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, #300-6174 University Blvd., Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada. Phone: (604) 822-4285. Fax: (604) 822-6041. E-mail: wmohn{at}interchange.ubc.ca.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2001, p. 5107-5112, Vol. 67, No. 11
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.11.5107-5112.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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