Napocor Power Barge 103 was dislodged from its moorings and then slammed onto the rocky shoreline of Barangay Botongon when Typhoon Yolanda made a landfall in northern Iloilo on November 8, 2013. The oil spilled contaminated about a kilometre of Estancia's coastline and partly that of neighbouring town of Batad in Northern Iloilo, Western Visayas, Philippines. The present study aimed to isolate and evaluate hydrocarbon-degrading (singly or in combination) abillities of indigenous fungal flora from oil contaminated beach and mangrove soils in these areas.
Results showed a total of twenty genera of marine-derived fungi were isolated. These genera included Acremonium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Curvularia, Monilia, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Verticillium and Yeast. Among the species, Aspergillus fumigatus obtained the highest frequency of occurrence (43.06%). Penicillium sp1 (EB331) got the highest value for individual category on TPH (64.70%) and PAH (43.42%) degradation. The consortium of Aspergillus fumigatus and Paecilomyces sp1, A+D obtained the highest values of 69.38% and 66.59% on the degradation of TPH and PAH with the increased efficacy of 13.61% and 42.41% on two species consortia. Moreover, the consortium composed of Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus cf. repens and Paecilomyces sp1, A+B+D also were the best degraders of TPH and PAH with the values of 67.87% and 66.95% and increased efficacy of . 13.33% and 47.10%, respectively.Aspergillus cf. repens (BB231) got the highest value (81.98%) on the degradation of alkanes. The consortium of Aspergillus fumigatus and A. niger, A+C were the best alkane degraders at 77.93%with increased efficacy of 8.0%. Finally, the consortium of Aspergillus niger, Paeclomyces sp1 and Penicillium sp1, C+D+E recorded the highest value at 76.99% on the degradation of total alkanes with increased efficacy of 2.20%. This study has demonstrated the hydrocarbon-biodegradtion potential of tropical fungi isolated from oil contaminated habitats useful for future bioremediation activities.