In 2002 the study of the impact of coal mine methane leakage (in November 2000) due to the damage of underground gaspipe (63 PE) was undertaken. The properties of soils, plant cover conditions and the composition of groundwater on the area of allotment garden in Włocławek was studied. For the investigation soils were sampled from the following depths: 0-20, 20-40, 60-80 and 100-120 cm of 8 bore-holes; groundwater and plant material (thuja needles) from these sites were sampled, too. The present state of the soil environment was estimated on the base of indirect indices, which reflect two year impact of the excess of methane: the pH of soils, total sulphur contents, redox properties of soils and the activity of dehydrogenase. It was observed that methane leaking unsettled the dynamic equilibrium in gaseous phase of soil. The increase of methane content caused the reductive condition in soil and disturbed its microbial and enzymatic activities. The deficit of oxygen caused negative effect on thuja plants and their complete damage in extreme sites. The study showed also still high content of methane and tetrahydrothiophene in groundwater.

Principles of bioluminescence have been described as well as some examples of the biotests that utilize natural bacterial luminescence for assessment of the effects of environment contamination and remediation have been reviewed. The achievements of the last eight years and a new outlook on using rapid biotests for waters, wastewaters, sediments and soils toxicity investigations have been taken into account.

In the presented work, relations between activity of dehydrogenase and the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in light soil fertilised with sewage sludge was studied. Sewage sludge was introduced to the soil in the following doses: 30 Mg/ha, 75 Mg/ha, 150 Mg/ha, 300 Mg/ha and 600 Mg/ha. The content of PAI-ls in sewage sludge-amended soil was proportional to sewage sludge dose. Soil fertilisation with sewage sludge stimulated the activity of the dehydrogenase enzymes. With passing of time, a gradual decrease in the activity of dehydrogenase was observed. The coefficients of correlation between activity of the enzyme and PAH content showed that an addition of sewage sludge (with PAI-I content of 5712 μg/kg) had a stimulating effect on dehydrogenase activity in doses of 75 and 150 Mg/ha.

In this experiment mixed bacteria cultures, adapted to high concentrations of oil products were used. The application of the mixed bacterial cultures to oil biodegradation in oil of different pH values (5, 7. 9), was also studied. The biodegradation process was detected in all investigated soils independly on pH values, both in soil with autochthonous bacteria and with addition of mixed bacteria cultures. In the soil inoculated with mixed bacteria cultures after 21 days reduction of oil content was 40% (± I .63%) in acid soil, 42% (±0.82%) in soil with neutral pH and 31% (±1.41%) in soil with pH about 9. After 42 days biodegradation was carried out in all investigated pH values at about 60% (± 1.63%) level of reduction of oil products. In control samples (only with autochthonous bacteria) during this time (42 days) the average 49% (±1.63%) decrease of oil products content was obtained. Addition of inoculum into soil influenced the effectivity of this process. The increase of oil removal by about I 0% was noted.

The aim of this work was to determine the influence of native and alien keratinolytic fungi inocula on the petroleum hydrocarbon removal rate in soil covered and not covered with hair. The hair was the major nutrient for keratinolytic fungi and other soil microorganisms. The fungal inocula accelerated the petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation process during the first month of the experiment. During the second month, TPH removal rates were similar for soil inoculated and not inoculated with fungi. The highest petroleum hydrocarbon removal rate was observed in soil inoculated with native fungal strains. The TPI-I removal rates were about 64% in soil covered with hair and 77% in soil not covered with hair. The lowest removal rate was observed in soil not inoculated with fungi (60%). The hair applied as additional nitrogen, sulfur and carbon source did not impact, or slightly inhibited, the petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation process. The fungal inocula caused dramatic changes in soil fungal qualitative composition.