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Bioluminescent Bacteria as Indicators of Chemical Contamination of Coastal Waters

Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, 10 Ocean Science Circle, Savannah, GA 31411

View larger version (52K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Map of sampling locations in Chatham County (Georgia, USA) and the South Atlantic Bight.

View larger version (15K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Effect of diesel fuel on the bioluminescent ratio (BLR) of estuarine bacterial communities. Regression line was best fit to a simple two-parameter model: BLR = a x % diesel fuel/b x % diesel fuel (a = 89.81; b = 0.11).

View larger version (22K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Effect of exposure to saltmarsh sediments contaminated with mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (approximately 10 µg/g each) over one tidal period in saltmarsh mesocosms on the bioluminescent ratio (BLR). (A) Comparison of BLR after exposure to contaminated () and uncontaminated (•) sediments. (B) Difference between the BLR of indigenous bacterial communities exposed to pristine sediments and the same communities exposed to contaminated sediments. Relative differences were calculated for paired samples from each sampling date as the difference between the BLR from the clean and contaminated samples divided by the BLR of the clean sample. Positive values indicate that the BLR of communities exposed to contaminated sediments was depressed relative to unexposed communities. One sample (24 Apr. 2000) was excluded from this analysis as an outlier.

View larger version (21K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Effect of nutrient addition to the bioluminescent ratio (BLR) ratio of estuarine bacterial communities. Effect of (A) nitrate (•) and urea (), (B) glucose, and (C) a 5:1 mixture of peptone and yeast extract. Error bars represent one standard deviation of the mean. No difference between any of the treatments was statistically significant: nitrate (p = 0.57); urea (p = 0.55); glucose (p = 0.62); peptone and yeast extract (p = 0.9).

View larger version (14K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Bioluminescent ratio (BLR) of bacterial communities from the Skidaway River estuary from September 1999 through March 2002. The BLR was determined approximately weekly at high tide.

View larger version (17K): [in a new window]   Fig. 6. Correlation of the bioluminescent ratio (BLR) of bacterial communities from the Skidaway River estuary from September 1999 through March 2002 with (A) temperature and (B) salinity.

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Fig. 7. Concentration of total coliform (•) and fecal coliform () bacteria concentration in the Skidaway River estuary from September 1999 through March 2002.

View larger version (10K): [in a new window]   Fig. 8. Relationship between the bioluminescent ratio and salinity of bacterial communities at five estuarine sites in Chatham County (Georgia, USA), and from 64 km offshore in the South Atlantic Bight. Savannah River at downtown Savannah (•), Little Ogechee River at Fort McAllister (), Skidaway River estuary at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography main dock (), Isle of Hope Marina (), Tybee Island south beach (), South Atlantic Bight approximately 64 km east of the Savannah Sea Buoy (). Error bars represent one standard deviation of the mean.

View larger version (11K): [in a new window]   Fig. 9. Bioluminescent ratio (BLR) of bacteria communities from three estuarine sites in Chatham County (Georgia, USA): Richardson Creek at Oatland Island (•), Wilmington River at Thunderbolt Yacht Sales marina (), and the Skidaway River at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography main dock () were compared with the regression predicted bioluminescent ratio of bacterial communities from the Satilla River estuary (). BLRSATILLA = (salinity x 0.0125) – 1.21; r2 = 0.73. The bioluminescent ratio from each of the sites in Chatham County was measured from September 1999–March 2000. The bioluminescent ratio of bacterial communities was determined from 6–7 December in the Satilla River. Error bars represent one standard deviation of the mean.