Thomas, G., Archer, B., Cameron, T., Hepburn, L., McGenity, T. J., Miliou, A., Tsimpidis, T., Whitby, C., & McKew, B. A. (2018). Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management, Crete, Greece.
Abstract
Crude oil production currently exceeds 4 billion tonnes per annum, with >1.3 million
tonnes entering the marine environment each year. On the 10th September 2017 the vessel Agia Zoni
II sank in the Saronic Gulf, Greece, releasing an estimated 2,500 tonnes of crude oil, which heavily
contaminated the coasts of Salamina and the Athens Riviera. Sediment and water samples from
contaminated beaches (and uncontaminated control sites) were taken shortly after the incident and
thereafter monthly over the following seven months. Here, we will use a combination of gas
chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and molecular techniques to measure changes in
hydrocarbon composition and concentration in relation to the in situ microbial community
composition. The overall aim of this project is to quantify the efficacy of the clean-up operation and
the extent of the indigenous microorganisms for natural biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons.
Specifically, we will monitor the effects of the oil spill on Bacterial, Archaeal, and Fungal
communities, using qPCR and Next Generation Sequencing targeting phylogenetic and functional
genes. This analysis will identify those microbes involved in hydrocarbon biodegradation of the
pollutants, as well as those key functional groups of microbes that may have been impacted negatively
(e.g. from direct toxicity or by being out-competed by oil-degrading microbes). Furthermore, this
study aims to quantify any long-term effects of the oil spill on the wider marine food web, by
measuring any differences in primary and secondary production. This incident has provided the rare
opportunity to study a large oil spill in situ; enabling the direct measurement of the environmental
effects, and such data may assist in the design of better oil remediation and management strategies in
the future.
