THE EFFECTS OF CRUDE OIL ON MARINE MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN SEDIMENTS FROM THE PERSIAN GULF AND THE CASPIAN SEA: A MICROCOSM EXPERIMENT

Changes in the microbial community in response to catastrophic oil spills in marine and fresh water environments have been well documented. Molecular methods provide tools for analyzing the entire bacterial community, covering also those bacteria that have not been cultured in the laboratory. In this study, four different microcosms were set up containing sediments collected from the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. One from each location was...