Enumeration of Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria

Petroleum products (e.g., gasoline, diesel fuel, creosote) that pollute soil and water are often removed usmg bioremediation that depends on the activities of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms. Typically, nutrients and/or electron acceptors are placed in the site to stimulate the growth and activities of these bacteria. Because such abiotic processes as dilution, sorption, or volatilization can be responsible for hydrocarbon disappearance, criteria other than pollutant disappearance must be used (1 ,2 ) to prove that microorganisms are responsible and to assess the effective, killed bie, killed bieness of various treatment protocols. Increases in the numbers of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in polluted sites as broremediation progresses provide evidence that they are responsible for pollutant disappearance.