Surge seen in number of spill-eating microbes

[phantom power]

I'm a bit mystified that a marine scientist would be surprised that bacteria can double in 24 hours. They can double in 20 minutes under the right conditions.

WASHINGTON -- The number of naturally occurring microbes that eat methane grew surprisingly fast inside a plume spreading from BP's ruptured oil well, an oceanographer who was one of the first to detect the plumes said Tuesday.

Samantha Joye, a marine sciences professor at the University of Georgia at Athens, said it's good news that the microbes are eating the methane. However, the microbes also use oxygen in the water, and Joye said the repercussions of the resulting oxygen depletion aren't yet known.

Joye said she hadn't completed her analysis yet but that the data so far show the microbes are much more abundant in the plume than they are in the water layers above and below it.

In lab experiments, the number of microbes nearly doubled in a 24-hour period.

"That's really, really surprising," Joye said. "Clearly the microbial community is responding rapidly and rigorously to the input of oil and gas."

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/13/1729065/surge-seen-in-number-of-spill.html#ixzz0tftPeea6

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/13/1729065/surge-seen-in-number-of-spill.html

[yellerpup]

1. Yay microbes!

One of the many small reasons I believe in mother nature. K&R!

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Just don't get cellulitis ...

... or any of the other dozens of bacterial infections to which human flesh is heir.

The ones that eat oil, though, can stay.

--d!

[yellerpup]

5. Ugh! I looked up cellulitis and it looks really bad.

In addition to the oil eating bacteria, when I posted a cheer for microbes I was thinking of these miraculous fellows. >Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13micro.html?_r=1

[aquart]

3. Well, it's free eats to them.

But isn't there some sort of oxygen problem associated with this?

[phantom power]

4. I'm not an oceanographer or biologist, but it screams "huge oxygen depletion" to me.

:shrug:

[aquart]

6. So how do we put the oxygen back?

Seems to me a worthwhile project.

[TheMadMonk]

8. Giant aquarium bubblers. Should have been put in years ago to deal...

...with the agricultural runoff dead zones.

We have to stop being so mistrustful of the idea of purposeful geoengineering. By all means start with things that can be immediately reversed or halted.

[TheMadMonk]

7. Certain microbes can manage twenty minutes. Others, days or longer.

Oil munchers due to the niche they usually occupy aren't generally possessed of a fast metabolism.

[kestrel91316]

9. Some bacteria reproduce quickly. Some reproduce VERY slowly.

Fast reproduction in this particular type of bacteria is probably slow, so a particular one that is fast might very well be a surprise.

My guess is, you haven't studied much microbiology so your snark toward an expert is somewhat forgiveable.