Fuel spills are changing the microbial community in Antarctic soils
Published on the 08 September 2026 by Kate Arellano
The microbial community in Antarctic soils Co-authors of the Bunger Hills paper, Rebecca McWatters (left) and Tim Spedding (right), holding the paper at the Bunger Hills site. Photo credit: The Australian Antarctic Division.
UNSW researchers are using sequencing to uncover how fuel contamination impacts Antarctic microbial populations.
We’ve seen how man-made disasters like fuel spills harm plants and animals, but rarely do we think about how they impact the microscopic world.
As Professor Belinda Ferrari from UNSW Sydney’s School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science knows, microbes can tell us a lot about the health of our ecosystems.
“My lab is working to understand types of microorganisms living in Antarctica and what strategies they use to survive,” says Prof. Ferrari.
“We collaborate with the Australian Antarctic Division on using microbes as indicators of soil health in sites contaminated by fuel spills.”
A recent paper published by Prof. Ferrari in Nature Communications: Earth & Environment reveals how a 40-year-old petroleum spill has shifted the microbial populations at Bunger Hills in East Antarctica.
First author, Kellynn Tan, says sequencing performed by the Ramaciotti Centre provided fascinating insights into the microbial community at the Bunger Hills site.
“We submitted samples for 16S and 18S amplicon sequencing. 16S allowed us to capture bacteria and archaea, whilst 18S helped us identify microeukaryotes like fungi and algae,” says Tan.
“In the soil samples, we found typical bacteria and fungi associated with hydrocarbons… which told us that the soil is still contaminated 40 years later.”
The Ramaciotti Centre also performed metagenomic sequencing, which revealed which microbial metabolic pathways had been affected by the spill.
“In Antarctic soils, one survival strategy is to consume trace gases to help cells stay alive when they’re dormant. The metagenomic sequencing showed that genes associated with hydrogen oxidation were much less abundant in the contaminated soil compared to the non-contaminated soil,” says Prof. Ferrari.
As well as demonstrating the effect of fuel contamination, Tan hopes that long-term monitoring of microbial diversity will help us understand how climate change is affecting Antarctic soils.
“This area of Antarctica is quite impacted by climate change,” Tan says. “So, we have recorded the current microbial biodiversity of the site, which can be compared to samples collected in 10 years’ time.
“This allows us to see how communities are responding to climate change and gives us a broader understanding of conservation biodiversity as a long-term strategy.”
Photo Credit: The Australian Antarctic Division