Hydrocarbons contamination and microbial degradation in mangrove sediments of the Niger Delta region (Nigeria)

Abstract

The distribution of aliphatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and their degradability by bacteria in epipelic and benthic sediments from Qua Iboe Estuary mangrove ecosystem and associated creeks were investigated. The research findings revealed that total aliphatic hydrocarbons in sediments ranged from 16.82 mg·kg −1 to 210 mg kg −1, wheras total PAHs ranged from 6.30 to 35.55 mg·kg −1 dry weight of sediment. Low molecular mass (i.e. the 2–3-ring) PAHs were predominant in almost all the sampling points, whereas the higher molecular masses (4-, 5- and 6-ring PAHs) had the lowest concentrations. In general, the sediment samples ES 2 (39.7%), ES 3 (24.8%), BS 1 (46.7%), BS 2 (49.9%) and BS 3 (44.2%) showed<50% contributions of Σ combustion–derived PAH (COMP-PAH) concentration to the Σ PAH concentrations, whereas ES 1 (57%) contained>50% of COMP-PAHs. Our results have also shown that many mangrove bacteria have strong capacity to utilise Qua Iboe Light (QL) crude oil as the sole source of carbon and energy, while lower number of bacterial species including Bacillus sp., Micrococcus sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Alcaligenes sp. and Flavobacterium sp. exhibited detectable PAHs degradability; and as such may serve as efficient degraders of QL crude oil contamination of mangrove ecosystem.