Bioaugmentation: possible scenarios due to application of bacterial preparations for remediation of oil-contaminated soil.

Although bioaugmentation is known as effective and environmentally friendly method increasing removal of hydrocarbons from oil-contaminated soil, it sometimes fails in soil restoration and disturbs the ecological state of soil. We studied possible scenarios of the introduction of oil-degrading bacteria into oil-contaminated podzolic soil assessing the environmental safety of different bacterial preparations in a long-term field experiment. Integral indicators characterizing the state of biocenosis included biological activity of soil and aboveground biomass of grasses.

The possible role of toxigenic fungi in ecotoxicity of two contrasting oil-contaminated soils - A field study.

Long-term field experiments were performed to evaluate the phytotoxic properties of fungal metabolites in oil-contaminated soil and to assess the impact of contamination on the allelopathic activity of soil mycobiota. Two contrasting soils of Northwest Russia (sandy and loamy podzols) exposed to oil contamination underwent changes in abundance and allelopathic activities of soil fungi. Shifts within the microbial community caused by oil contamination affected not only oil-decomposition rates but also ecotoxicity of contaminated soil.

Nutrient and metal pollution of the eastern Gulf of Finland coastline: Sediments, macroalgae, microbiota.

The anthropogenic pollution along the coastline of the eastern Gulf of Finland was studied through a range of methods, including analyses of metal contamination in water, surface sediments, accumulated algal biomass and its correlation with resistant microbiota. According to concentrations, the main pollutants in water were copper and manganese. Influence of Nuclear Power Plant was remarkable in adjacent areas and was expressed in high concentrations of molybdenum, nickel, copper and other elements in the water.

Environmental hazards of sea-dumped chemical weapons.

Does the post-WWII burial at sea of chemical weapons still pose a human and environmental risk?

Microbial responses to mustard gas dumped in the Baltic Sea.

Microbiological studies were carried out on chemical weapon dump sites in the Baltic Sea. The effect of mustard gas hydrolysis products (MGHPs) on marine microbiota and the ability of microorganisms to degrade MGHPs were studied. Many stations at the dump sites demonstrated reduced microbial diversity, and increased growth of species able to use mustard gas hydrolysis products as sole source of carbon.

Soil bacterium Pseudomonas sp.: destroyer of mustard gas hydrolysis products.

A bacterial culture capable of utilizing products of mustard gas hydrolysis as a source of carbon was isolated from soil. This culture was tolerant to organochlorine substances in the hydrolysate. The bacterium was identified as Pseudomonas sp.