title: Impacts of bioremediation schemes for the mitigation of a low-dose anthracene contamination on free-living marine benthic nematodes.
abstract: A microcosm experiment was used to examine (1) the effects of different bioremediation schemes on degradation of anthracene and the structure of free-living marine nematodes in a lightly contaminated (4.5 μg g(-1)) sediment from Bizerte lagoon and (2) the responses of the nematode community upon an artificial spiking of a low dose anthracene (1 μg g(-1)). For that purpose sediment microcosms were incubated in laboratory for 40 days. Bioremediation techniques decreased the anthracene contamination, and interestingly, biodegradation were more efficient when anthracene was artificial supplied into the sediment suggesting that the addition of bioavailable anthracene stimulated the bacterial community to adjust towards a PAH-degrading community. Spiking with this low dose of anthracene provoked significant changes in the nematode community structure and abundance, with the elimination of specific species such as Mesacanthion diplechma, the decrease of the dominant species Oncholaimus campylocercoides and the increase in abundance of opportunistic species such as Spirinia parasitifera. This would suggest a low tolerance of the nematode community despite the presence of a weak anthracene contamination in the sediment that could have allow dominance of an anthracene tolerant nematode species. Anthracene toxicity was alleviated in biostimulation treatments, leading to a strong increase in nematode abundance, concomitantly with changes in the nematode community structure; Prochromadorella neapolitana became the most abundant species.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biosurveillance de l'Environnement, Faculté des Sciences de Bizerte, 7021, Zarzouna, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Hela
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Louati
authors.forename: Olfa
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ben Said
authors.forename: Amel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soltani
authors.forename: Cristiana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cravo-Laureau
authors.forename: Hugues
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Preud'Homme
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duran
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aissa
authors.forename: Ezzeddine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mahmoudi
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pringault
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000873:Anthracenes / Q000633:toxicity*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D009348:Nematoda / Q000187:drug effects*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D000873:Anthracenes; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C034020:anthracene