Chronopoulou, Panagiota‐Myrsini and Fahy, Anne and Coulon, Frédéric and Païssé, Sandrine and Goñi‐Urriza, Marisol and Peperzak, Louis and Acuña Alvarez, Laura and McKew, Boyd A and Lawson, Tracy and Timmis, Kenneth N and Duran, Robert and Underwood, Graham JC and McGenity, Terry J (2013) Impact of a simulated oil spill on benthic phototrophs and nitrogen‐fixing bacteria in mudflat mesocosms. Environmental Microbiology, 15 (1). pp. 242-252. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2012.02864.x
Chronopoulou, Panagiota‐Myrsini and Fahy, Anne and Coulon, Frédéric and Païssé, Sandrine and Goñi‐Urriza, Marisol and Peperzak, Louis and Acuña Alvarez, Laura and McKew, Boyd A and Lawson, Tracy and Timmis, Kenneth N and Duran, Robert and Underwood, Graham JC and McGenity, Terry J (2013) Impact of a simulated oil spill on benthic phototrophs and nitrogen‐fixing bacteria in mudflat mesocosms. Environmental Microbiology, 15 (1). pp. 242-252. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2012.02864.x
Chronopoulou, Panagiota‐Myrsini and Fahy, Anne and Coulon, Frédéric and Païssé, Sandrine and Goñi‐Urriza, Marisol and Peperzak, Louis and Acuña Alvarez, Laura and McKew, Boyd A and Lawson, Tracy and Timmis, Kenneth N and Duran, Robert and Underwood, Graham JC and McGenity, Terry J (2013) Impact of a simulated oil spill on benthic phototrophs and nitrogen‐fixing bacteria in mudflat mesocosms. Environmental Microbiology, 15 (1). pp. 242-252. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2012.02864.x
Abstract
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>Coastal and estuarine ecosystems are highly susceptible to crude oil pollution. Therefore, in order to examine the resilience of benthic phototrophs that are pivotal to coastal ecosystem functioning, we simulated an oil spill in tidal mesocosms consisting of intact sediment cores from a mudflat at the mouth of the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C</jats:styled-content>olne <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>stuary, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">UK</jats:styled-content>. At day 21, fluorescence imaging revealed a bloom of cyanobacteria on the surface of oiled sediment cores, and the upper 1.5 cm thick sediment had 7.2 times more cyanobacterial and 1.7 times more diatom <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">rRNA</jats:styled-content> sequences when treated with oil. Photosystem <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">II</jats:styled-content> operating efficiency (<jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">Fq</jats:styled-content></jats:italic>′<jats:italic>/<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">Fm</jats:styled-content></jats:italic>′) was significantly reduced in oiled sediments at day 7, implying that the initial diatom‐dominated community was negatively affected by oil, but this was no longer apparent by day 21. Oil addition significantly reduced numbers of the key deposit feeders, and the decreased grazing pressure is likely to be a major factor in the increased abundance of both diatoms and cyanobacteria. By day 5 concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen were significantly lower in oiled mesocosms, likely resulting in the observed increase in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case"><jats:italic>nifH</jats:italic></jats:styled-content>‐containing, and therefore potentially dinitrogen‐fixing, cyanobacteria. Thus, indirect effects of oil, rather than direct inhibition, are primarily responsible for altering the microphytobenthos.</jats:p>
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Diatoms; Bacteria; Cyanobacteria; Photosystem II Protein Complex; Oxidoreductases; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Biodiversity; Petroleum; Nitrogen Fixation; Geologic Sediments; Molecular Sequence Data; Bacterial Load; Petroleum Pollution |
Subjects: | Q Science > QR Microbiology |
Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Health Faculty of Science and Health > Life Sciences, School of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 31 Jan 2013 12:31 |
Last Modified: | 04 Dec 2024 06:19 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/5427 |