Answer to Question #293171 in Cell Biology for jbiob

Question

1.     You were informed that the oil spill that took place in the Kalba sea reached water desalination plants in the Fujairah area.

 

Formulate a hypothesis to state whether these bacteria will be able to thrive and function properly if they were to be used to treat oil spills in freshwater environments like the Fujairah desalination plants. Support your claim with scientific reasoning explaining why or why not.

 

Answer 1

Oil release from petroleum seeps is slow, allowing the local microbial communities to degrade the oil as it enters their environment. Thus, bacteria constitute a natural mechanism for cleaning up oil in the environment.