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Phytoremediation potential and ecological and phenological changes of native pioneer plants from weathered oil spill-impacted sites at tropical wetlands

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Abstract

Pioneer native plant species from weathered oil spill-affected sites were selected to study their potential for phytoremediation on the basis of their ecological and phenological changes during the phytoremediation process. Experiments were conducted in field and in greenhouse. In field, native plants from aged oil spill-impacted sites with up 400 g of weathered petroleum hydrocarbons per kilogram soil were selected. In the impacted sites, the principal dominant plant species with potential for hydrocarbons removal were Cyperus laxus, Cyperus esculentus, and Ludwigia peploides. In greenhouse, the phenology of the selected plant species was drastically affected by the hydrocarbons level above 325 g total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) per kilogram soil after 2 years of phytoremediation of soils from the aged oil spill-impacted sites. From the phytoremediation treatments, a mix-culture of C. laxus, C. esculentus, and L. peploides in soil containing 325 g TPH/kg soil, from which 20.3 % were polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and 34.2 % were asphaltenes (ASF), was able to remove up 93 % of the TPH, while in unvegetated soil the TPH removal was 12.6 %. Furthermore, evaluation of the biodiversity and life forms of plant species in the impacted sites showed that phytoremediation with C. esculentus, alone or in a mix-culture with C. laxus and L. peploides, reduces the TPH to such extent that the native plant community was progressively reestablished by replacing the cultivated species resulting in the ecological recovery of the affected soil. These results demonstrate that native Cyperus species from weathered oil spill-affected sites, specifically C. esculentus and C. laxus, alone or in a mix-culture, have particular potential for phytoremediation of soils from tropical wetlands contaminated with weathered oil hydrocarbons.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT México: 211085-5-29307B). Special acknowledgment is given to CIMADES for the technical assistance during the field studies thorough the extraction and production oil zone in Tabasco, México. Felipe de J. Palma Cruz acknowledges a doctoral fellowship (83286) from CONACyT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Av. IPN 2508, C. P. 07360, México D. F., Mexico

    Felipe de J. Palma-Cruz, Noemí Araceli Rivera Casado, Octavio Gómez Guzmán & Graciano Calva-Calva

  2. Instituto Tecnológico de Oaxaca, Av. Tecnológico, CP 68030, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

    Felipe de J. Palma-Cruz

  3. Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Ecatepec, Av. Tecnológico, Valle de Anáhuac, CP 55210, Edo. México, Mexico

    Josefina Pérez-Vargas

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  1. Felipe de J. Palma-Cruz
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  2. Josefina Pérez-Vargas
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  3. Noemí Araceli Rivera Casado
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Correspondence to Graciano Calva-Calva.

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Palma-Cruz, F.d.J., Pérez-Vargas, J., Rivera Casado, N.A. et al. Phytoremediation potential and ecological and phenological changes of native pioneer plants from weathered oil spill-impacted sites at tropical wetlands. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 16359–16371 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6675-4

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