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RESPONSE OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES EXPOSED TO PENTACHLOROPHENOL IN ESTUARINE SEDIMENTS
Citation:
Kurtz, J C., T Barkay, R D. Devereux, AND R. B. Jonas. RESPONSE OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES EXPOSED TO PENTACHLOROPHENOL IN ESTUARINE SEDIMENTS. Presented at 16th Annual International Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments & Waters, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 16-19 October 2000.
Description:
Effects of environmental contaminants, including pentachlorophenol (PCP), a widely-used wood preserving agent, on estuarine microbial community composition and processes were evaluated. Slurries of estuarine sediments were exposed to PCP at environmentally relevant concentrations (1.0 and 5.0 ?g ml-1). The metabolism of microcosm-contained bacterial communities was influenced by PCP treatment as evidenced by a decrease in sulfate reduction rates to 82.7% of untreated controls and a decrease in dark CO2 fixation rates to 86.8% of untreated controls. While total direct counts of bacteria remained within the same order of magnitude, the community of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), common and ecologically important inhabitants of estuarine sediments, changed in response to PCP exposure as revealed by nucleic acid hybridization with group-specific 16S ribosomal RNA probes. Compared with untreated microcosms, SRB groups capable of the complete oxidation of acetate declined in relative abundance when exposed to 5?g ml-1 PCP, while groups capable of incomplete oxidation increased in relative abundance. The methods employed allowed detection of changes in the microbial community exposed to PCP and may provide a means for detecting adverse impacts of xenobiotic contaminants on sediment bacterial communities.