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Ecotoxicity Monitoring of Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil During Bioremediation: A Case Study

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Abstract

The ecotoxicity of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil originating from a brownfield site was evaluated during a 17-month biodegradation pilot test. The initial concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in the soil was 6380 μg/g dry weight. An amount of 200 kg soil was inoculated with 1.5 L of the bacterial preparation GEM-100 containing Pseudomonas sp. and Acinetobacter sp. strains (5.3 × 1010 CFU.mL−1) adapted to diesel fuel. The concentration of TPHs in the soil decreased by 65.5% after bioremediation. Different organisms such as the bacterium Vibrio fischeri, terrestrial plants Sinapis alba, Lactuca sativa, and Hordeum vulgare, the water plant Lemna minor, the earthworm Eisenia fetida, and the crustacean Heterocypris incongruens were used for ecotoxicity evaluation. The highest toxicity was detected in the first period of bioremediation. However, certain toxic effects were detectable during the whole bioremediation process. The contact tests with plants, earthworms, and crustaceans were the most sensitive of all of the bioassays. Therefore, the contact tests performed directly on soil samples were shown to be a better tool for ecotoxicity evaluation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil than the tests performed on soil elutriates. The ecotoxicity measured by the responses of the tests did not always correlate with the decrease in TPH concentrations in the soil during bioremediation.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the following Institutions and projects: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (LN00B030), Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (grant No. KJB600200514), and Institutional Research Concept No. AV0Z50200510. The authors thank R. Altenburger (UFZ, Leipzig, Germany) for providing the L. minor strain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Vídeňská 1083, 14220 Prague 4, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Hubálek, Nora Kováčová & Čeněk Novotný

  2. ENVISAN-GEM, a.s., Radiová 7, 102 31 Prague 10, Czech Republic

    Simona Vosáhlová & Vít Matějů

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  1. Tomáš Hubálek
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  2. Simona Vosáhlová
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  3. Vít Matějů
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  4. Nora Kováčová
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  5. Čeněk Novotný
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Correspondence to Tomáš Hubálek.

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Hubálek, T., Vosáhlová, S., Matějů, V. et al. Ecotoxicity Monitoring of Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil During Bioremediation: A Case Study. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 52, 1–7 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-006-0030-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-006-0030-6

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