Research Product

The species and densities of yeasts isolated from North Sea waters before and after the production of oil were compared. Debaryomyces hansenii was the predominant species, but after oil production, Candida guilliermondii, a hydrocarbonoclastic yeast, was more commonly isolated and the frequency of Aureobasidium pullulans decreased. Relatively few fungi were isolated from Amoco Cadiz oil collected twelve days after the start of the spill. The highest densities were obtained from the oil samples when they were first emulisified in a Tween 80-seawater solution. It is suggested that the high concentrations of aromatics in the unweathered Iranian crude, which constituted about half of the spilled oil, were inhibitory to the yeast flora.