Influence of Chemical Composition on Microbial Communities in Deep Water Plumes After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Abstract
After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, large amounts of natural gas and oil remained dissolved or suspended in the deep Gulf of Mexico. These deep water plumes were preferentially enriched in soluble hydrocarbons, including methane, ethane, propane, cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, and xylenes. Microbial communities responded rapidly to the influx of hydrocarbons, and were initially dominated by a novel group of Oceanospirillales. As the summer progressed, Colwellia and Cycloclasticus became more abundant, followed by an increase in methanotrophs and methylotrophs. DNA stable isotope probing experiments showed that Colwellia spp. were the primary bacteria assimilating carbon from ethane and propane, suggesting that the presence of natural gas had a significant effect on the microbes that responded to the spill. Additional incubation experiments suggested that Colwellia could also consume benzene and other hydrocarbons in crude oil, but it was unclear whether the presence of natural gas stimulated or inhibited the consumption of other hydrocarbons. In order to determine the effect of natural gas on microbial community composition and the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, we conducted a series of incubation experiments with seawater from the deep Gulf of Mexico. We also conducted experiments to determine the effect of individual hydrocarbon compounds on the microbial community response. We will present results from both sets of experiments.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.B21A0343R
- Keywords:
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- 0418 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Bioremediation;
- 0465 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Microbiology: ecology;
- physiology and genomics;
- 4825 OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL / Geochemistry;
- 4840 OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL / Microbiology and microbial ecology