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Impacts of dispersants on microbial microbial communities and ecological systems
Citation:
Techtmann, S., J. SantoDomingo, R. Conmy, AND M. Barron. Impacts of dispersants on microbial microbial communities and ecological systems. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. Springer, New York, NY, 107:1095-1106, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-022-12332-z
Impact/Purpose:
Accidental oil spills can result in catastrophic ecological insults and therefore require rapid intervention to mitigate the potential impacts to aquatic ecosystems. One of the largest oil spills, known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, occurred in the Spring of 2010 near the coast of Louisiana (USA) due to an explosion during oil drilling activities. Millions of gallons of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico, impacting thousands of ocean miles and coastal areas linked to the gulf. Among the actions taken during the remediation efforts was the unprecedented large use of Corexit dispersants, including to the subsurface to prevent the oil to reach the surface. While there is evidence that dispersants can accelerate the biodegradation of oil, reports on their potential toxicity to aquatic biota and to microbial functions have also been documented. In this review we will examine the most recent literature on the impact of dispersants on microbial communities implicated in oil degradation and overall ecological networks. The primary focus will be on studies using Corexit but other dispersants will be discussed if data is available. We will share the literature gaps identified and discuss future work that is needed to reconciled some of the discrepancies found on the effectiveness of dispersant on oil degradation and their potential toxicity.
Description:
Accidental oil spills can result in catastrophic ecological insults and therefore require rapid intervention to mitigate the potential impacts to aquatic ecosystems. One of the largest oil spills, known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, occurred in the Spring of 2010 near the coast of Louisiana (USA) due to an explosion during oil drilling activities. Millions of gallons of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico, impacting thousands of ocean miles and coastal areas linked to the gulf. Among the actions taken during the remediation efforts was the unprecedented large use of Corexit dispersants, including to the subsurface to prevent the oil to reach the surface. While there is evidence that dispersants can accelerate the biodegradation of oil, reports on their potential toxicity to aquatic biota and to microbial functions have also been documented. In this review we will examine the most recent literature on the impact of dispersants on microbial communities implicated in oil degradation and overall ecological networks. The primary focus will be on studies using Corexit but other dispersants will be discussed if data is available. We will share the literature gaps identified and discuss future work that is needed to reconciled some of the discrepancies found on the effectiveness of dispersant on oil degradation and their potential toxicity.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Impacts of dispersants on microbial microbial communities and ecological systems
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