1. Extreme microbes

2. How are microbes affected by an oil spill?

3. Before the oil spill. Imagine that all of the different species of microbes are different instruments. What do you think the “orchestra of the ocean” sounds like?

4. During the oil spill. The water now contains high levels of hydrocarbons, methane, and other chemicals from the oil. What do you think the “orchestra of the ocean” will sound like now?

5. Alcanivorax borkumensis Colwellia Oceanospirillales Oleispira Neptunomonas Thalassolituus oleivorans The microbes that are found in the ‘orchestra of the ocean’ after the oil spill are the ones that can survive the polluted ocean. Some of them even ‘eat’ the oil and help us clean up oil spills. H. sapiens

6. What microbes live in different environments?

7. Around the world. What do you think the “orchestra of the ocean” sounds like in a different type of extreme environment? Are the animals that live in different parts of the world different?