Baseline for plastic and hydrocarbon pollution of rivers, reefs, and sediment on beaches in Veracruz State, México, and a proposal for bioremediation.

Plastic and hydrocarbon pollution in aquatic ecosystems is a worldwide reality and serious concern today. Plastic debris presents a threat to ecosystems and organisms. Hydrocarbons are also considered priority pollutants.

Cr(VI) reduction by an Aspergillus tubingensis strain: role of carboxylic acids and implications for natural attenuation and biotreatment of Cr(VI) contamination.

Experiments conducted in shake flask cultures, in minimal medium of pH 5.3 containing 50 microg mL(-1)Cr(VI) with glucose as a carbon source, indicated that the biomass of Aspergillus sp. strain Ed8, a chromate-tolerant fungal strain previously isolated from a chromium-polluted soil, responds to the presence of citrate in the medium by increasing the rate of Cr(VI) reduction; this effect required the use of live biomass and was not observed in medium with lactate.

Analytical speciation of chromium in in-vitro cultures of chromate-resistant filamentous fungi.

In this work, different analytical speciation schemes have been used to study the reduction of Cr(VI) by a chromate-resistant strain of filamentous fungi Ed8 (Aspergillus sp), indigenous to contaminated industrial wastes. As demonstrated previously, this strain has the capability to reduce chromate present in the growth medium without its accumulation in the biomass, yet the reduced chromium end-products have not been characterized. Liquid growth medium, initially containing 50 mg L(-1) Cr(VI), was analyzed for Cr(III)/Cr(VI) and for total Cr at different time intervals (0-24 h) after inoculation with fungi.