Responses of bacterial community structure and diversity to soil eco-friendly bioremediation treatments of two multi-contaminated fields

Biodiversity of soil microbial populations could be altered and affected by anthropogenic pressures due to the release of organic and inorganic xenobiotic compounds and/or the application of remediation practices. Therefore, the assessment of the response of microbiota to environmental pollution and to bioremediation techniques is a critical issue in soil ecology. In this study a culture- independent approach was used to investigate the indigenous bac- terial community structure in two contaminated soils of a National Interest Priority Site in Campania (southern Italy) and to monitor the impact of different remediation technologies. Our results show that bacterial populations shifted in the polluted soils over time after the application of compost and microbial inoculum. Statistical analyses based on the similarity of DGGE profiles show that the bacterial community structure and diversity was not affected by contamination. Hence the main change in similarity levels was induced by sampling time and by the interaction between soil eco-friendly bioremediation treatments.