Abstract
One of the most important challenges for soil science is to determine the limits for the sustainable functioning of contaminated ecosystems. The response of soil microbiomes to kerosene pollution is still poorly understood. Here, we model the impact of kerosene leakage on the composition of the topsoil microbiome in pot and field experiments with different loads of added kerosene (loads up to 100 g/kg; retention time up to 360 days). At four time points we measured kerosene concentration and sequenced variable regions of 16S ribosomal RNA in the microbial communities. Mainly alkaline Dystric Arenosols with low content of available phosphorus and soil organic matter had an increased fraction of Actinobacteriota, Firmicutes, Nitrospirota, Planctomycetota, and, to a lesser extent, Acidobacteriota and Verrucomicobacteriota. In contrast, in highly acidic Fibric Histosols, rich in soil organic matter and available phosphorus, the fraction of Acidobacteriota was higher, while the fraction of Actinobacteriota was lower. Albic Luvisols occupied an intermediate position in terms of both physicochemical properties and microbiome composition. The microbiomes of different soils show similar response to equal kerosene loads. In highly contaminated soils, the proportion of anaerobic bacteria-metabolizing hydrocarbons increased, whereas the proportion of aerobic bacteria decreased. During the field experiment, the soil microbiome recovered much faster than in the pot experiments, possibly due to migration of microorganisms from the polluted area. The microbial community of Fibric Histosols recovered in 6 months after kerosene had been loaded, while microbiomes of Dystric Arenosols and Albic Luvisols did not restore even after a year.
Highlights
This article is an open access articleHydrocarbons serve as the main fuel for transportation engines worldwide, making environmental pollution by hydrocarbons one of the major current ecological threats
The results obtained with these two 16S rRNA regions were highly consistent (Spearman correlation on bacterial family abundance greater than 0.75), while V3V4 resolved more microbial families (Supplementary Figure S3)
In all soils except Fibric Histosols, upon the high kerosene load, we observed several dominant bacterial families that expanded up to 50% of the total bacterial community (Figure 3B)
Summary
This article is an open access articleHydrocarbons serve as the main fuel for transportation engines worldwide, making environmental pollution by hydrocarbons one of the major current ecological threats. Hydrocarbons disrupt intra-soil habitat conditions by filling in the pore spaces and impairing the water and air exchange, transforming the composition of soil microorganisms. A few studies have addressed the bacterial communities of terrestrial soils contaminated with different hydrocarbons, such as [1]. Still, they provide insufficient data on the sensitivity and resistance of various groups of soil microorganisms to kerosene contamination in natural conditions. Kerosene is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid derived from petroleum and widely used in industry as a jet-fuel. A wide range of hydrocarbons may adversely affect ecosystems, the research mainstream has focused on the impact of crude and tank oil on aquatic and coastal ecosystems, paying little attention to kerosene-contaminated soils
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