Impact of crude oil on bacteriocenosis of the digestive tract of mollusks.
In this study the effect of crude oil on intestinal bacterial populations of the mollusk Viviparus contactus was investigated. The addition of crude oil into an environment of mollusks induced no clear changes in the saprophytic, amylolytic, and total coliform bacterial counts in the digestive tract of the mollusk. After 10 days of contamination, the saprophytic, amylolytic, and total coliform bacterial numbers were of the same order of magnitude as the initial numbers. Significant numbers of indigenous hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria were observed in the intestinal tracts of mollusks before contamination with crude oil. Introduction of crude oil into the mollusk environment resulted in an increase of 2 orders of magnitude in the number of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in the digestive tract. Therefore, measuring the hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial populations in the digestive tracts of hydrobionts can be considered an important component of contaminated-site assessment studies.
Institute of Ecology of Vilnius University, Akademijos 2, LT-08412, Vilnius-21, Lithuania. syvo@ekoi.lt
J
J
Syvokiene
L
L
Mickeniene
D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000382:microbiology; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D008097:Lithuania; D008974:Mollusca / Q000187:drug effects*; D010578:Petroleum / Q000633:toxicity*; D045483:Rivers; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
D010578:Petroleum; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical