Microbial response for a freshwater ecosystem impacted by oil spill

The microbiome of freshwater basins intended for human use has been poorly studied and there are no data on microbial alterations caused by oil spills in situ. The waters of Lake Pertusillo (Basilicata, Italy), located near the largest oil extraction plant in Europe, provide drinking water to more than one and a half million people. During 2017, these drinking waters were the subject of an oil spill of about 400 tons. This represented an opportunity to undertake a preliminary study for the microbial response to oil spills in these ecosystems.

Water samples were taken before and three months after the accident from Lake Pertusillo. The presence of hydrocarbons was verified and the analysis of the microbiome and its metabolism was performed using a bioinformatics approach. The analyzes revealed specialized successional patterns of microbiome communities that were potentially capable of degrading recalcitrant hydrocarbons such as aromatic, chloroaromatic, nitroaromatic and sulfur-containing aromatics.

The findings suggested that changes in the freshwater microbial community were associated with oil pollution. Furthermore, the particular microbial pattern identified three months after the oil spill may suggest a role as an ex post indicator of this environmental pollution.