Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA. Present address: Center for Applied Geosciences, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
College of Marine Sciences, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701, USA.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2015 Jun;13(6):388-96. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro3452. Epub 2015 May 6.
Dispersants are globally and routinely applied as an emergency response to oil spills in marine ecosystems with the goal of chemically enhancing the dissolution of oil into water, which is assumed to stimulate microbially mediated oil biodegradation. However, little is known about how dispersants affect the composition of microbial communities or their biodegradation activities. The published findings are controversial, probably owing to variations in laboratory methods, the selected model organisms and the chemistry of different dispersant-oil mixtures. Here, we argue that an in-depth assessment of the impacts of dispersants on microorganisms is needed to evaluate the planning and use of dispersants during future responses to oil spills.
分散剂在全球范围内被常规性地应用于海洋生态系统中的溢油应急响应，其目的是通过化学方法增强油在水中的溶解，从而刺激微生物介导的石油生物降解。然而，对于分散剂如何影响微生物群落的组成及其生物降解活性，我们知之甚少。已发表的研究结果存在争议，这可能归因于实验室方法、所选模式生物以及不同分散剂-油混合物的化学性质的差异。在这里，我们认为需要深入评估分散剂对微生物的影响，以便在未来应对溢油事件时评估分散剂的规划和使用。
