Abstract.
The potential to establish pesticide biodegradation in constructed wetland sediment was investigated. Under microcosm conditions, bioaugmentation of sediment with small quantities of an atrazine spill-site soil (1:100 w/w) resulted in the mineralization of 25–30% of 14C ethyl atrazine (1–10 µg g–1 sediment) as 14CO2 under both unsaturated and water-saturated conditions; atrazine and its common metabolites were almost undetectable after 30 days incubation. By comparison, unbioaugmented sediment supplemented with organic amendments (cellulose or cattail leaves) mineralized only 2–3% of 14C ethyl atrazine, and extractable atrazine and its common metabolites comprised approximately 70% of the original application. The population density of atrazine-degrading microorganisms in unbioaugmented sediment was increased from ~102/g to 104/g by bioaugmentation (1:100 w/w), and increased by another 60-fold (6.0×105 g–1) after incubation with 10 µg g–1 of atrazine. A high population of atrazine degraders (~106 g–1) and enhanced rates of atrazine mineralization also developed in bioaugmented sediment after incubation in flooded mesocosms planted with cattails (Typha latifolia) and supplemented with atrazine (3.2 mg l–1, 1 µg g–1 sediment). In the absence of atrazine, neither the population of atrazine degraders, nor the atrazine mineralizing potential of bioaugmented sediment increased, regardless of the presence or absence of cattails. Bioaugmentation might be a simple method to promote pesticide degradation in nursery run-off channeled through constructed wetlands, if persistence of degraders in the absence of pesticide is not a serious constraint.
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Received revision: 9 July 2001
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Runes, .H., Jenkins, .J. & Bottomley, .P. Atrazine degradation by bioaugmented sediment from constructed wetlands. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 57, 427–432 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530100792
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530100792