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Hydrocarbon Biodegradation And Microbial Community Composition In Freshwater Systems And Enrichment Cultures, Emma Byrne

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this study, we investigated if significant differences existed seasonally in the microbial response to oil in the Straits of Mackinac, and if crude (Bakken) and refined (non-highway diesel) oil exposure had impacts on microbial community composition and hydrocarbon biodegradation across seasons using a microcosm-level experiment. Ambient microbial communities differed between seasons, with significantly enriched microbial groups present between all sample types except for between fall 23 ℃ and fall 4 ℃ microcosms. We found significantly different microbial communities between control samples and oil-amended samples in every season, but no significant community differences between either oil type. We found Amplicon …