Pires, CarlosFranco, Albina R.Pereira, Sofia I. A.Henriques, IsabelCorreia, AntónioMagan, NareshCastro, Paula M. L.2017-12-192017-12-192017Pires, C., Franco, A. R., Pereira, S. I. A., Henriques, I., Correia, A., Magan, N., & Castro, P. M. L. (2017). Metal(loid)-contaminated soils as a source of culturable heterotrophic aerobic bacteria for remediation applications. Geomicrobiology Journal, 34(9), 760-7681521-0529http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/23760Heavy metal-contaminated soils are a serious environmental problem. Herein, the culturable heterotrophic bacterial community present on two metal(loid)-contaminated sites in the Northern Portugal was investigated. The bacterial counts ranged from 5.96 to 7.69 and 7.04 to 7.51 (log CFUg(-1) soil) in Sites 1 and 3, respectively. The bacterial population was predominantly composed of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria on both sites. The most represented genera in Site 1 were Bacillus (41%) and Pseudomonas (27%), whereas Arthrobacter (21%) and Pseudomonas (13%) were the most represented genera in Site 3. Several bacterial isolates showed tolerance to high concentrations of metal(loid)s, suggesting that both contaminated sites are a valuable source of metal(loid)-tolerant bacteria, which may be further used in bioremediation and/or phytoremediation processes.engBacterial diversityMetal(loid)sMetal(loid) toleranceSoil contaminationjournal article10.1080/01490451.2016.12619681521-052985016927466000414136100004