These microscopic life forms are blooming as a result of the oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the Macondo 252 deep-sea well
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill
added roughly 800 million liters of hydrocarbons to the Gulf of Mexico.
One quarter of that has been burned, captured or skimmed, according to
U.S. government estimates. That leaves the rest for trillions of
microbes to feast on—a petroleum cornucopia that first became available
April 20 when the oil platform exploded and the spill started.
If the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
and director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change
Policy, Carol Browner, are to be believed, those microbes have made
quick work of the spill, consuming as much as 50 percent of the
remaining oil already. Actually, the bacteria, fungi and other life that
consume hydrocarbons do not work that fast, taking weeks to months to
years to degrade oil. And, unfortunately, the microbes' speed is limited
not by the availability of oil—or even its droplet size, which is why chemical dispersants
have been used to break up the oil into microbe-friendly globules—but
by the availability of various nutrients, such as nitrogen and
phosphorus that wash into the ocean via rivers carrying sediments from
the continents.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Meet the Microbes Eating the Gulf Oil Spill [Slide Show]: Scientific American
Author: David Biello
