Natural hydrocarbon-contaminated springs as a reservoir of microorganisms useful for bioremediation
The main goals of this research were to characterize hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria isolated from naturally hydrocarbon-contaminated springs and the surrounding soils in Southern Italy, and to evaluate the effectiveness of bioaugmentation with a microbial consortium composed of four strains for hydrocarbon removal in a different aquatic environment (lake waters), through mesocosm experiments.