Question

The use of microorganism metabolism to remove pollutants such as oil spills in the water bodies is known as
(a) Biomagnification
(b) Bioremediation
(c) Biomethanation
(d) Bioreduction

Answer 1

Hint: Water pollution caused by a number of pollutants, one such pollutant is an oil spill which is a discharge of petroleums in water bodies. Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi have the physiological ability to detoxify the toxic pollutants used to remove the toxicity of the water.

Complete answer:
Pollutants such as oil spill is a discharge of petroleum from oil refineries, extraction wells, during loading and unloading of tankers, etc in water bodies such as oceans, estuaries, and rivers which leads to death of aquatic living organisms and damage of marine biodiversity.
Bioremediation is a technique where microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi are used to remove toxic chemicals from water bodies. Bioremediation also includes plants for the detoxification of pollutants from soil. The microorganisms that are used for bioremediation may be already present in the contaminated water body or maybe it gets isolated. Microorganisms grow and work under suitable conditions therefore manipulation of the environmental condition also required to enhance the growth of microorganisms. After the growth of microorganisms, these microorganisms eat up toxic waste and digest them and release out gases like ethane and carbon dioxide. It is a cost-effective process but in case of unsuitable conditions, microorganism dies off leaving the toxic untreated.

So, the correct answer is Bioremediation.

Note:
Not all bacteria, fungi, and plants are capable of detoxification of toxic chemicals of pollutants, therefore only those organisms are used which have the property of detoxification. Microorganisms that are used in this process are aerobic microorganisms that require oxygen for detoxification of waste and plants detoxify waste of soil by the use of solar energy.