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An. R. Acad. Nac. Farm., 2009, 75 (4): 883-899

ARTÍCULO

A fascinating example of microalgal
adaptation to extreme crude oil
contamination in a natural spill in
Arroyo Minero, Río Negro, Argentina

Victoria López-Rodas, Daniel Carrera-Martínez, Eva Salgado,
Aránzazu Mateos-Sanz, José C. Báez, Eduardo Costas *

Departamento de Producción Animal (Genética). Facultad de Veterinaria.
Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Recibido el 4 de mayo de 2009.

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, accidental spills of crude oil are one of the most
worrisome environmental problems. Usually, the crude oil spills
rapidly inhibited photosynthesis of microalgae (the main primary
producers of aquatic ecosystems) causing a severe damage to inland
waters ad marine ecosystems. In order to add knowledge about
microalgal response to crude oil spill, here we study a fascinating
example of extreme contamination by crude oil spills continuously
(at least since 1915) in Arroyo Minero, Nirihuan de Arriba, Río
Negro, Argentina. This study is changing our pre-conceived ideas
on the adaptation of microalgae to crude oil. Astonishingly, a high
biomass of microalgae proliferates in contact with crude oil. In
contrast with the paradox of the plankton (which predict that
more than 30 microalgal species would coexist in the same water
body) only four species were detected in the crude oil spill area.
They are cosmopolitan mesophile species and not extremophile
ones (as would be expected). The most abundant species was the

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