WHOI biologist Virginia Edgcomb is testing whether bacteria consume more petroleum compounds when they are subject to predation than when they are undisturbed. The predators in this case are microscopic, mostly single-celled organisms called protists. Both the protists and the bacteria were collected along with sediment and water from near the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)[back]
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