Article
 

Chemical dispersants can suppress the activity of natural oil-degrading microorganisms

Public Deposited

Contenu téléchargeable

Télécharger le fichier PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/bn999847x

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • During the Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the application of 7 million liters of chemical dispersants aimed to stimulate microbial crude oil degradation by increasing the bioavailability of oil compounds. However, the effects of dispersants on oil biodegradation rates are debated. In laboratory experiments, we simulated environmental conditions comparable to the hydrocarbon-rich, 1,100 m deep plume that formed during the Deepwater Horizon discharge. The presence of dispersant significantly altered the microbial community composition through selection for potential dispersant-degrading Colwellia, which also bloomed in situ in Gulf deep waters during the discharge. In contrast, oil addition to deepwater samples in the absence of dispersant stimulated growth of natural hydrocarbon-degrading Marinobacter. In these deepwater microcosm experiments, dispersants did not enhance heterotrophic microbial activity or hydrocarbon oxidation rates. An experiment with surface seawater from an anthropogenically derived oil slick corroborated the deepwater microcosm results as inhibition of hydrocarbon turnover was observed in the presence of dispersants, suggesting that the microcosm findings are broadly applicable across marine habitats. Extrapolating this comprehensive dataset to real world scenarios questions whether dispersants stimulate microbial oil degradation in deep ocean waters and instead highlights that dispersants can exert a negative effect on microbial hydrocarbon degradation rates.
  • This is the publisher’s final pdf. The article is published by the National Academy of Sciences and can be found at: http://www.pnas.org/content/112/48/14900
  • Keywords: oil spills, oceanography, microbial dynamics, hydrocarbon cycling, chemical dispersants
Resource Type
DOI
Date Available
Date Issued
Citation
  • Kleindienst, S., Seidel, M., Ziervogel, K., Grim, S., Loftis, K., Harrison, S., ... & Joye, S. B. (2015). Chemical dispersants can suppress the activity of natural oil-degrading microorganisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(48), 14900-14905. doi:10.1073/pnas.1507380112
Journal Title
Journal Volume
  • 114
Journal Issue/Number
  • 48
Déclaration de droits
Funding Statement (additional comments about funding)
  • This research was supported by a grant from British Petroleum/the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative to support the "Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf (ECOGIG)" consortium. P.M.M. also acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation (OCE-1057683). This is ECOGIG contribution no. 347 and the data are archived at Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative data set number R1.x132.135:0012.
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces

Des relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Articles

La vignette Titre Date de téléchargement Visibilité actes
file details KleindienstChemicalDispersantsSuppress.pdf 07/26/2017 Public
file details KleindienstChemicalDispersantsSuppressAppendix.pdf 07/26/2017 Public