Potential of native mixed forests fungi for their use in bioremediation of contaminated soils

• Ignacio Martín Andrés ^[1]
  1. [1] INIA
• Localización: XI young researchers meeting on conservation and sustainable use of forest systems / coord. por Elena Hidalgo Rodríguez, Francisco Javier Dorado Reyes, Ainhoa Iñiguez Soto, Diego A. Damián Carrión, Samuel Gato Martín, Guillermo Jové Alcalde, Raúl Arcadio Fernández González, 2017, ISBN 978-84-617-9574-1, pág. 51
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Amongst the advantages of mixed forests over pure forests stands out their higher biodiversity. This higher biodiversity provides them a greater capacity of reaction against destructive episodeslike forest fires. After these fires, besides the destruction caused by the fire itself, pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are generated. These pollutants are highly dangerous fororganisms owing to their toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. In these situations, the fungal diversity, typical of mixed forests, becomes important; this is because amongst the nativefungi of the soil exist some, like the white rot fungi, that are able to break down a wide range of organic pollutants structurally similar to lignin, thanks to the release of extracellular lignolytic enzymes. This ability shows an interesting potential for its use in industry, as this kind of substances, produced after forest fires, are also very common environmental pollutants. These pollutants are usually released in oil spills and they are very persistent due to their hydrophobic nature and low vapor pressure. This sort of process that allows to restore polluted environments through the use of organisms is named bioremediation. In order to survive in the soil and carry out the degradation of the pollutants, the white rot fungi require some kind of lignocellulosic substrate as a carbon source to obtain energy. Amongst the materials suitable for this role, there are forest and agricultural residues. This investigation focuses on the search and isolation of fungi belonging to mixed forests of Quercus pyrenaica and Pinus sylvestris, altered and unaltered by forest fires, and the comparison with their equivalents in pure forests. It also attempts to establish the relations between the soil characteristics and its fungal inhabitants, and to analyse the fungal capacity to metabolize different pollutants common in burned forest and industrial soils. Finally,this project aims to develop the optimal substrate for the growth and the degradative activity of the fungi. To achieve these objectives, the fungal communities of plots located in pure forest and mixed forest will be studied and compared. In addition, the tolerance of the fungi to organic pollutants present in the soil after forest fires and its ability to metabolize them will be studied, in order to extrapolate it to the bioremediation of polluted industrial soils. Finally, several forest andagricultural materials will be tested to get the most appropriate substrate for the fungal activity