Ogilvie Lesley A, Grant Alistair
Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK.
Mar Environ Res. 2008 Mar;65(2):187-98. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2007.10.002. Epub 2007 Oct 25.
We tested the ability of pollution induced community tolerance (PICT) to detect the effects of chronic metal pollution on estuarine sediment microbial communities, along a gradient spanning two orders of magnitude in metal concentrations. In tandem, we investigated the associated microbial community structure using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). Tolerance of microbes to Cu, measured as IC50 (inhibitory concentration 50%), was strongly correlated with pore water Cu concentration (r(2)=0.842). No strong correlation existed for other metals tested, highlighting the ability of PICT to identify the pollutant causing a toxic effect. There was no correlation between microbial community structure and community tolerance to metals tested, but analysis of community structure did provide some information on reasons for observed PICT response. PICT methodology used here provided a greater strength and consistency of association with pollutant concentration compared to microbial community structure and can be recommended as a sensitive indicator of metal pollution on estuarine sediment microbial communities.
我们沿着金属浓度跨越两个数量级的梯度，测试了污染诱导群落耐受性（PICT）检测慢性金属污染对河口沉积物微生物群落影响的能力。同时，我们使用末端限制性片段长度多态性（T-RFLP）研究了相关的微生物群落结构。以IC50（抑制浓度50%）衡量的微生物对铜的耐受性与孔隙水铜浓度密切相关（r(2)=0.842）。对于所测试的其他金属，未发现强相关性，这突出了PICT识别造成毒性效应污染物的能力。微生物群落结构与对所测试金属的群落耐受性之间没有相关性，但群落结构分析确实为观察到的PICT响应原因提供了一些信息。与微生物群落结构相比，这里使用的PICT方法与污染物浓度的关联具有更强的强度和一致性，可推荐作为河口沉积物微生物群落金属污染的敏感指标。
