Researchers in Washington found out that small tiny “Petroleum-eating bacteria”, were found eating the bacteria that was left from the petroleum oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico in April. This bacteria was so efficient at eating the Petroleum that they were said to have out competed many other bacteria eating microbes that were in the process of slowly, but surely eating the petroleum as well. The bacteria was said to have individually each ramped up their own internal metabolic machinery to digest the oil as efficiently as possible, so that there was no more oil left on the shore. To scientists, this result and finding was said to have been a “ nature-made cleanup crew capable of reducing the amount of oil in the undersea plume by half about every three days”.
This is very important to science and biology, because after the scientists, and researchers found these organisms, to be eating away at the oil plumes, much faster than the other microbes, this then led the researchers and scientists to find a way to increase the surface area of the oil and water, so therefore the microbes and oil plume eating organisms were then able to eat the “unusual food source” much quicker, to the point that there was no more oil.
We care about news of this sort, because it helps scientists help engineers find solutions to problems, so that other organisms do not get intoxicated with such bad fumes in their systems, and for organism such as birds, it could be fatal to certain endangered species such as pelicans, who are most often found in oil spills, that can no longer fly, and end up dying due to the lack of help of the people to terminate the oil plume from getting any larger.
Source:http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2010/08/25/bacteria_ate_away_at_gulf_oil_plume_study_shows/
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