Abstract
Anthropogenically-induced oil spills release large amounts of organic pollutants into the marine environment. To date, little is known about the response of microbial populations (biomass, activity and diversity) to crude oil pollution in Low Nutrients Low Chlorophyll and warm systems. Here, we investigated the daily dynamics of phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria in response to an oil spill (500 μm thick layer) in the coastal waters of the SE Mediterranean Sea (SEMS), using mesocosms during winter and summer. Crude oil addition caused a marked decrease in phytoplankton biomass (40–76%) and production rates (22–96%), whereas heterotrophic bacterial abundance and production increased (4–68% and 17–165%, respectively). Concurrently, amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that oil-degrading bacteria became abundant 48–96 h post-oil addition, while the cosmopolitan Synechococcus and SAR11 lineages were significantly reduced (by 78–98% and 59–98%, respectively). Fertilization with inorganic nutrients (NO3 and PO4) reduced the deleterious effects of the oil, resulting in a less distinct reduction in phytoplankton biomass/abundance. Our results highlight the potential of intrinsic microbial communities to degrade oil-derived pollutants in oligotrophic coastal waters.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 107102 |
Journal | Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science |
Volume | 249 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 5 Feb 2021 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Funding
This work was partly supported by the Israeli monitoring program awarded by the Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources and by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Israel . Te latter also supported Y.S's student scholershop. We would like to express our gratitude to the Sir Maurice and Lady Irene Hatter Scholarship and the MERCI scholarship awarded to Y.S. This work is in partial fulfillment of the M.Sc. thesis of Yael Shai (University of Haifa). This work was partly supported by the Israeli monitoring program awarded by the Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources and by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Israel. Te latter also supported Y.S's student scholershop. We would like to express our gratitude to the Sir Maurice and Lady Irene Hatter Scholarship and the MERCI scholarship awarded to Y.S. This work is in partial fulfillment of the M.Sc. thesis of Yael Shai (University of Haifa).
Funders | Funder number |
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Ministry of Environmental Protection, Israel | |
University of Haifa | |
Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources |
Keywords
- Bio-degradation
- Crude oil
- Eastern Mediterranean sea
- Oil spill
- Phytoplankton
- Primary production