ANALYSIS OF NEMATODE COUNTS AS AN ECOLOGICAL INDICATOR OF SITE RESTORATION

Chintan Mehta
Kerry Sublette*
Aditya Moralwar
Laura Ford

University of Tulsa
600 S. College Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74104
Voice: 918-631-3085
Fax: 918-631-3268
E-mail: kerry-sublette@utulsa.edu

Kathleen Duncan University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK

Joshua Brokaw Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK

Tim Todd Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS

Greg Thoma University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR

The effect of fertilizer as an amendment in the bioremediation of a terrestrial crude oil spill has been investigated in terms of the subsequent recovery of the soil ecosystem following remediation. Two different spills in the same area with different initial hydrocarbon concentrations (33,500 mg kg-1 and 4800 mg kg-1) were compared. Fertilizer was found to increase the rate of bioremediation at the higher hydrocarbon concentration and result in more rapid recovery of soil bacteria (numbers, community structure, diversity) and nematodes (trophic diversity and community structure). The effect of the fertilizer on ecosystem recovery was more significant at the higher concentration of crude oil hydrocarbons in presumably due to greater depletion of soil nutrient pools in the absence of the fertilizer amendment. Nematode analysis proved to be more sensitive to disturbance in the soil food web in a hydrocarbon-impacted site than analysis of soil microbes using phospholipid fatty acid analysis.