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.
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