Bacterial targets as potential indicators of diesel fuel toxicity in subantarctic soils.

ABSTRACT: Appropriate remediation targets or universal guidelines for polar regions do not currently exist, and a comprehensive understanding of the effects of diesel fuel on the natural microbial populations in polar and subpolar soils is lacking. Our aim was to investigate the response of the bacterial community to diesel fuel and to evaluate if these responses have the potential to be used as indicators of soil toxicity thresholds. We set up short- and long-exposure tests across a soil organic carbon gradient. Utilizing broad and targeted community indices, as well as functional genes involved in the nitrogen cycle, we investigated the bacterial community structure and its potential functioning in response to special Antarctic blend (SAB) diesel fuel. We found the primary effect of diesel fuel to

SUBMITTER: van Dorst J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4054227 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature