Local fungi, willow and municipal compost effectively remediate petroleum-contaminated soil in the Canadian North

Local fungi, willow and municipal compost effectively remediate petroleum-contaminated soil in the Canadian North

Bioremediation

Bacteria

Hydrocarbons

Natural attenuation

Gasoline

Biotechnology

Soil pollution

Soils

Agricultural robots

Diesel engines

Fertilizers

RNA

Composting

Fungi

Soil conservation

Revegetation

Low energy-input alternatives based on locally available products are needed for treating petroleum-hydrocarbon spills in northern regions. We tested the efficacy of three local biological components (municipal compost, white-rot fungus: Pleurotus ostreatus and willow: Salix planifolia) to remediate diesel-contaminated soils in a subarctic climate (Whitehorse, YT, Canada), and compared their efficacy to natural attenuation and chemical fertilizers (industry standard). After the first growing season, biologically amended treatments (BAT) that contained >2 biological components, had decreased 6973% of the diesel's F2 fraction (C10-C16), which is more than natural attenuation or fertilizer (48 and 51%). By the third growing season, the BAT dropped below the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment's (CCME) Agricultural & Residential/Parkland guideline (1) and 86% of willows had survived and developed extensive roots. MiSeq amplicon sequencing of fungal (ITS) and bacterial (16S) rRNA genes showed the BAT's microbial communities were significantly more abundant and diverse. We found 132 bacterial and 35 fungal genera unique to the BAT. Readily-available local biological components such as municipal compost, fungi and willows may provide an effective alternative to applications of imported chemical fertilizers for the bioremediation and revegetation of diesel-contaminated soil in northern environments. 2018 Elsevier Ltd

47-55

220

Chemosphere

2019

Robichaud, Kawina

Girard, Catherine

Dagher, Dimitri

Stewart, Katherine

Labrecque, Michel

Hijri, Mohamed

Amyot, Marc

journalArticle

456535

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.12.108