Year: 1959
Type: article
Abstract: An abundance of hydrocarbon oxidizing microbes is found, not unexpectedly, in areas where extraordinary quantities of hydrocarbons exist in the biosphere.In particular, bacteria of the genus Mycobacterium develop in areas of oil and gas production and in areas of petro- liferous gas seeps.One of these species, Mycobacterium paraffinicum n. sp., shows a high degree of specificity for petroleum hydrocarbons, as reported by Davis et al. (1956).Mlethods for demonstrating hydrocarbon oxidizing microbes in the soil strongly influence observed results.This paper describes some of the experimental field work performed by the Field Research Laboratory of the Magnolia Petroleum Company.Widely separated areas and a variety of soils were studied.Ethane and methane were employed for cultivating the hydrocarbon oxidizers in the laboratory.The objectives of this study were threefold: (a) to test various methods for de- tectinig hydrocarbon oxidizing microbes in the soil; (b) to determin-e the relative abundance of ethane oxidizers that exist in areas of petroliferous gas ema- nationi, particularly with respect to the magnitude of areal contrasts; anid (c) to observe the effect of seasonal soil moisture on the hydrocarbon oxidizing microflora. MIATERIALS ANI) METHODSThree general methods were developed for detecting ethane or methane oxidizing microbes in soil: (a) mano- metric measurement of gas uptake, (b) colony develop- ment on mineral-salts agar plates sprinkled with soil, and (c) radioassay, including radioautography.The gas uptake and soil plating methods used in the isolation and study of Ml. paraffinicum n. sp.have been described previously (Davis et al., 1956).Radioassay for hydro- carbon oxidizing microbes is described in the patent literature by Davis (1957).Sampling areas.Areas overlying oil pools were se- lected for determining the effect of gaseous hydrocarbon emanation on the soil microbial flora.Sometimes the
Source: Applied Microbiology
Authors: J. B. Davis, R. L. Raymond, J. P. Stanley
Language: English
Subfield: Pollution
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W371152671