Dan Shaw + Talya ten Brink - Winter 2011

Oil is a complex mixture of many toxic hydrocarbons, and once they’ve contaminated soils, they are not easily removed, and threaten life.  Many of oil’s toxins are carcinogens.  There are several ways to remediate soils contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, including enhanced bacteria, fertilizer, and fungi. Bioremediation is a process using biological metabolism to break down or to sequester pollutants.  Phytoremediation, using plants, can often be an effective method of containing pollutants by drawing them into a plant mass, removing them from the soil but not ultimately eliminating them.  Mycoremediation, the use of cultured fungal mycelia in bioremediation, can actually degrade petroleum hydrocarbons, chemically transforming these harmful substances into mushroom-food.  The mycelium of Phanerochaete chrysosporium, also known as white-rot fungus (its fruiting body/above-ground component is known as “oyster mushroom”) has shown to be effective in mycoremediation (Stamets).