Objective 5.02
•Understand biotechnology in theenvironmental science industry.
Environmental Biotechnology
•Biotechnology is playing a large part in detecting andmonitoring pollution and determining how much is present
Environmental Biotechnology Examples
•Indicator species
–Lichens are widely used as environmentalindicators or bio-indicators
–If air is very badly polluted with sulfur dioxide,there may be no lichens present, just green algaemay be found
Environmental Biotechnology Examples
•Bioremediation
–Bacteria is used to clean up oil and fuel spills
•Oleophilic (attracted to oil) bacteria used to clean up oilspills
•Hanahan, SC, a suburb of Charleston, had an 80,000gallon jet fuel leak from a military fuel storage facility
–fuel entered the ground and groundwater
–Bacteria were successfully used to remediate this problem
Environmental Biotechnology Examples
•Biostimulation
–The Exxon Valdez clean-up
•Used the addition of nutrients
–Feed the oleophilic bacteria
Environmental Biotechnology Examples
Environmental Biotechnology Examples
•Phytoremediation
–Oregon Poplar Site (illegal industrial wastedumping site)
–J-Field at Aberdeen Proving Ground (disposal siteof chemical warfare agents, ammunitions andindustrial chemicals)
•used hybrid poplar trees
•remove VOC’s
–volatile organic compounds from contaminated soil
Environmental Biotechnology Examples
•Genetic engineering
–bacterial strains are under development toconvert solid waste from humans and livestockinto sugar and fuel
Limitations of using bio andphytoremediation
•Time
–often considered slower than chemical techniques
•Applicability
–they do not apply to all situations
•Fear
–those who live near treatment sites often wouldrather have the contaminated soil removed thantreated
•Fear that the process will not uncontaminate the soil
Marvin Gaye: Mercy, Mercy, Me
Now, with pictures…do your thoughts change?
Awareness by Sylvia Stults
Broken bottles and charred pieces of glass
Wadded up newspapers tossed on the grass
Pouring of concrete and tearing out trees
This is the environment that surrounds me?
Poisons and insecticides sprayed on our food
Oceans filling with thick oil crude
All sea life destined to a slow awful doom
These are the things we are to consume?
Mills pumping out iron expelling yellow fumes
Airlines emitting caustic gases from fuels
Weapons of destruction tested at desolate sites
And this is the air that's to sustain life?
There has to be something that someone can do
Like raise the awareness to those around you
That if we don't heed the problem at hand
It's your life that's at stake, the destruction of man.