Field-scale biostimulation shifts microbial community composition and improves soil pollution recovery at an artisanal crude oil refining site

ABSTRACT

Hydrocarbon pollution has led to the destruction of farmlands and fishing settlements in the Niger Delta. In this study, DNA metabarcoding was used to investigate bacterial response during the remediation of an artisanal refining site. Total petroleum hydrocarbons reduced from 93,720 mg kg^–1 on timepoint zero to 9,029.76 mg kg^–1 on day 91. Bacterial species distribution significantly reduced during remediation. The most responsive phyla to the remediation approach were Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria. Pathways for hydrocarbon degradation were differentially abundant during remediation. Overall, nutrient addition and intermittent tillage improved bacterial energy yield and the degradation of hydrocarbons.

KEYWORDS:

• Biostimulation
• bioremediation
• oil-pollution
• biodegradation
• methanogenesis
• biodiversity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The sequence reads from this study have been deposited in the sequence read archive under the BioProject ID PRJNA726818

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Elsevier Foundation [2017 Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge 2^nd Prize award given to CCB]; the Nigerian Conservation Foundation/Chevron Nigeria Limited [2018 Chief S. L. Edu Research Grant Award for Doctoral Students given to CCO]; and the Africa Centre of Excellence in Oilfield Chemicals Research, University of Port Harcourt [Doctoral fellowship given to CCO].