Bioremediation is the use of living organisms to clean up environmental disaster

Question

Bioremediation is the use of living organisms to clean up environmental disasters, such as an oil spill. If you were asked to pick the organism best suited to clean up an oil spill, which would you choose and why?

a) Their rapid growth rate and adaptability make bacteria ideally suited to the task of bioremediation.

b) Aquatic plants because they grow large enough to quickly remove large amounts of contaminants from the water

c) Algae, because they can survive well

d) Fish. Because they can swim to the contaminated area

Explanation / Answer

Ans: A, Bacteria are well suited for clearing oil spill in oceans in comparison to algae, plants and fishes because of their adaptability to survive in diverse environment. Bacteria can survive in a wide range of environment and many bacteria in the ocean naturally has the capacity to degrade hydrocarbons(oil spill as source of food) which are their basic metabolism with which they exist. Moreover bacteria are capable to evolve easily according to the environment when compared to algae, aquatic plants and fishes which makes it ideal for bioremediation. After oil spill, the carbon content is increased and other nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and supply of oxygen is reduced. Aqatic plants and certain algae eventhough they grow in large amounts and can survive well, they require other nutrients in addition to carbon source inorder to survive.. Fishes cannot survive for a long time when oil film blocks the contact of water to the atmosphere (reduced oxygen supply),many fishes die after consuming the oil spill due to its toxicity. Bacteria can survive exclusively on carbon source and overcome the toxic effects by altering its survival mechanism easily. Rapid growth rate makes them to degrade oil spill at a faster pace by increase in bacterial population.

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