Dataset Information

Ecosystem Capacity for Microbial Biodegradation of Munitions Compounds and Phenanthrene in Three Coastal Waterways in North Carolina, United States.

ABSTRACT: Munitions compounds (i.e., 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), octahy-dro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocin (HMX), and hexadydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazin (RDX), also called energetics) were originally believed to be recalcitrant to microbial biodegradation based on historical groundwater chemical attenuation data and laboratory culture work. More recently, it has been established that natural bacterial assemblages in coastal waters and sediment can rapidly metabolize these organic nitrogen sources and even incorporate their carbon and nitrogen into bacterial biomass. Here, we report on the capacity of natural microbial assemblages in three coastal North Carolina (United States) estuaries to metabolize energetics and phenanthrene (PHE), a proxy for terrestrial aromatic compounds. Microbial assemblages generally had the highest ecosystem capacity (mass of the compound mineralized per average estuarine residence time) for HMX (21-5463 kg) > RDX (1.4-5821 kg) ? PHE (0.29-660 kg) > TNT (0.25-451 kg). Increasing antecedent precipitation tended to decrease the ecosystem capacity to mineralize TNT in the Newport River Estuary, and PHE and TNT mineralization were often highest with increasing salinity. There was some evidence from the New River Estuary that increased N-demand (due to a phytoplankton bloom) is associated with increased energetic mineralization rates. Using this type of analysis to determine the ecosystem capacity to metabolize energetics can explain why these compounds are rarely detected in seawater and marine sediment, despite the known presence of unexploded ordnance or recent use in military training exercises. Overall, measuring the ecosystem capacity may help predict the effects of climate change (warming and altered precipitation patterns) and other perturbations on exotic compound fate and transport within ecosystems and provide critical information for managers and decision-makers to develop management strategies based on these changes.

SUBMITTER: Montgomery MT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7144167 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Ecosystem Capacity for Microbial Biodegradation of Munitions Compounds and Phenanthrene in Three Coastal Waterways in North Carolina, United States.

Montgomery Michael T MT Boyd Thomas J TJ Hall Nathan S NS Paerl Hans W HW Osburn Christopher L CL

ACS omega 20200327 13

Munitions compounds (i.e., 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), octahy-dro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocin (HMX), and hexadydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazin (RDX), also called energetics) were originally believed to be recalcitrant to microbial biodegradation based on historical groundwater chemical attenuation data and laboratory culture work. More recently, it has been established that natural bacterial assemblages in coastal waters and sediment can rapidly metabolize these organic nitrogen sour ...[more]

PMID: 32280874

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Project description:Benthic marine fossil associations have been used in paleontological studies as multivariate environmental proxies, with particular focus on their utility as water depth estimators. To test this approach directly, we evaluated modern marine invertebrate communities along an onshore-offshore gradient to determine the relationship between community composition and bathymetry, compare the performance of various ordination techniques, and assess whether restricting community datasets to preservable taxa (a proxy for paleontological data) and finer spatial scales diminishes the applicability of multivariate community data as an environmental proxy. Different indirect (unconstrained) ordination techniques (PCoA, CA, DCA, and NMDS) yielded consistent outcomes: locality Axis 1 scores correlated with actual locality depths, and taxon Axis 1 scores correlated with actual preferred taxon depths, indicating that changes in faunal associations primarily reflect bathymetry, or its environmental correlatives. For datasets restricted to taxa with preservable hard parts, heavily biomineralized mollusks, open ocean habitats, and a single onshore-offshore gradient, the significant correlation between water depth and Axis 1 was still observed. However, for these restricted datasets, the correlation between Axis 1 and bathymetry was reduced and, in most cases, notably weaker than estimates produced by subsampling models. Consistent with multiple paleontological studies, the direct tests carried out here for a modern habitat using known bathymetry suggests that multivariate proxies derived from marine benthic associations may serve as a viable proxy of water depth. The general applicability of multivariate paleocommunity data as an indirect proxy of bathymetry is dependent on habitat type, intrinsic ecological characteristics of dominant faunas, taxonomic scope, and spatial and temporal scales of analysis, highlighting the need for continued testing in present-day depositional settings.

Dataset Information

Ecosystem Capacity for Microbial Biodegradation of Munitions Compounds and Phenanthrene in Three Coastal Waterways in North Carolina, United States.

Publications

Ecosystem Capacity for Microbial Biodegradation of Munitions Compounds and Phenanthrene in Three Coastal Waterways in North Carolina, United States.

Similar Datasets

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