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Naphthalene biodegradation in temperate and arctic marine microcosms

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Abstract

Naphthalene, the smallest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), is found in abundance in crude oil, its major source in marine environments. PAH removal occurs via biodegradation, a key process determining their fate in the sea. Adequate estimation of PAH biodegradation rates is essential for environmental risk assessment and response planning using numerical models such as the oil spill contingency and response (OSCAR) model. Using naphthalene as a model compound, biodegradation rate, temperature response and bacterial community composition of seawaters from two climatically different areas (North Sea and Arctic Ocean) were studied and compared. Naphthalene degradation was followed by measuring oxygen consumption in closed bottles using the OxiTop® system. Microbial communities of untreated and naphthalene exposed samples were analysed by polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR–DGGE) and pyrosequencing. Three times higher naphthalene degradation rate coefficients were observed in arctic seawater samples compared to temperate, at all incubation temperatures. Rate coefficients at in situ temperatures were however, similar (0.048 day−1 for temperate and 0.068 day−1 for arctic). Naphthalene biodegradation rates decreased with similar Q10 ratios (3.3 and 3.5) in both seawaters. Using the temperature compensation method implemented in the OSCAR model, Q10 = 2, biodegradation in arctic seawater was underestimated when calculated from the measured temperate k1 value, showing that temperature difference alone could not predict biodegradation rates adequately. Temperate and arctic untreated seawater communities were different as revealed by pyrosequencing. Geographic origin of seawater affected the community composition of exposed samples.

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Abbreviations

PAH:

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

HC:

Hydrocarbon

OSCAR:

Oil spill contingency and response

GC:

Gas chromatography

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

DGGE:

Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis

OTU:

Operational taxonomic unit

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Acknowledgments

Financial support from Total E&P Norway is gratefully acknowledged. The sample of arctic water was collected during the 2009 COPOL cruise with R/V Lance. Thanks to cruise leaders Dr. Haakon Hop and Dr. Geir Wing Gabrielsen at the Norwegian Polar Institute for assistance with the logistics and PhD students Alexey K. Pavlov and Pernilla Carlson at UNIS for help with CTD-profiling and sampling of water respectively. Dag Altin is entitled to our special thanks for personally arranging and organizing the sampling and for keeping track of the arctic water until it arrived in our laboratory. Particular thanks go to Emily Lyng (International Research Institute of Stavanger) for revising the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, 4036, Stavanger, Norway

    Andrea Bagi, Torleiv Bilstad & Roald Kommedal

  2. International Research Institute of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

    Daniela M. Pampanin

  3. Computational Biology Unit, Uni Computing, Uni Research and Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Anders Lanzén

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  1. Andrea Bagi
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Bagi, A., Pampanin, D.M., Lanzén, A. et al. Naphthalene biodegradation in temperate and arctic marine microcosms. Biodegradation 25, 111–125 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-013-9644-3

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