title: Hydrocarbon contamination changes the bacterial diversity of soil from around Scott Base, Antarctica.
abstract: A combination of culture-independent and culturing methods was used to determine the impacts of hydrocarbon contamination on the diversity of bacterial communities in coastal soil from Ross Island, Antarctica. While numbers of culturable aerobic heterotrophic microbes were 1-2 orders of magnitude higher in the hydrocarbon-contaminated soil than control soil, the populations were less diverse. Members of the divisions Fibrobacter/Acidobacterium, Cytophaga/Flavobacterium/Bacteroides, Deinococcus/Thermus, and Low G+C gram positive occurred almost exclusively in control soils whereas the contaminated soils were dominated by Proteobacteria; specifically, members of the genera Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas and Variovorax, some of which degrade hydrocarbons. Members of the Actinobacteria were found in both soils.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Saul
authors.forename: Jackie M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Aislabie
authors.forename: Caroline E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Foght
mesh_terms: D000864:Antarctic Regions; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001483:Base Sequence; D044822:Biodiversity; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000633:toxicity*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants