The Biodiversity Changes in the Microbial Population of Soils Contaminated with Crude Oil

Crude oil spills resulting from excavation, transportation and downstream processes can cause intensive damage to living organisms and result in changes in the microbial population of that environment. In this study, we used a pyrosequencing analysis to investigate changes in the microbial population of soils contaminated with crude oil. Crude oil contamination in soil resulted in the creation of a more homogenous population of microorganisms dominated by members of the Actinomycetales, Clostridiales and Bacillales (all belonging to Gram-positive bacteria) as well as Flavobacteriales, Pseudomonadales, Burkholderiales, Rhizobiales and Sphingomonadales (all belonging to Gram-negative bacteria). These changes in the biodiversity decreased the ratios of chemoheterotrophic bacteria at higher concentrations of crude oil contamination, with these being replaced by photoheterotrophic bacteria, mainly Rhodospirillales. Several of the dominant microbial orders in the crude oil contaminated soils are able to degrade crude oil hydrocarbons and therefore are potentially useful for remediation of crude oil in contaminated sites.