From this defiled desert landscape, wildflowers reemerged unexpectedly last year. The only logical explanation, Radwan says, was that the roots recruited ubiquitous oil-degrading microbes to clean up. So his team cultured bacteria and fungi residing in the oily sand. These organisms, too, degraded oil, the microbiologist reports. Naturally occurring microbes also kept roots growing in the tainted sand free of oil.
Oil alone entices many petroleum-noshing bugs to immigrate to polluted areas.
Other groups, her own included, have reported evidence that root-zone microbes have the potential to degrade a number of noxious contaminants, from organic solvents and TNT to persistent pesticides. N.J. Because soil-cleaning plants may absorb some of the toxic materials around them, Walton believes that the trick will be to identify plants for cultivation that won't tempt growers or wildlife to dine on them.