Response of soil invertebrates to petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils at Macquarie Island

Abstract

A number of fuel spills have occurred on subantarctic Macquarie Island in association with fuel storage and power generation for the Island's research station. The Australian Antarctic Division began full-scale on-site remediation of these sites in 2009. To add to a weight-of-evidence risk assessment approach, single species and community-based toxicity tests were conducted for a range of native soil invertebrate taxa. The endemic earthworm, 'Microscolex macquariensis', was used to develop acute and chronic tests, using avoidance, survival and reproduction as endpoints (Chapter 2). Uncontaminated low (3%), medium (11%) and high (38 to 48%) organic matter (OM) content soils from Macquarie Island were tested to examine the influence of soil OM on toxicity.