Bacteria and Fossil Fuels:

Natural non renewable resources like coal, natural gas and petroleum are formed when dead organism are buried they release specific products by anaerobic decomposition. They are in carbon content. When organic matter is buried deep down the earth they are oxidized by micro organisms to form coal and petroleum. Production of fossil fuels and utilization of the same has raised major environmental issues in specific economy. When fossil fuels are burnt they release carbon dioxide. They are generated in enormous quantity. According to estimation, fossil fuels burning produce 21.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Carbon dioxide is one such green house gas resulting in the global warming. Global warming generally result in adverse environmental effects.

Ecological interaction of fossil fuel with bacteria:

When organic matter or organisms like phytoplankton and zooplankton gets deep down in to the sea or ocean sediment in excess fossil fuels is produced. Anaerobic bacteria decompose organic matter under anoxic conditions. Over the years organic matter mix with mud and gets deposited in different layers. When the pressure and heat increases down the ocean bed, organic matter chemically changes resulting in the production of kerogen. Kerogen is waxy materials that are found in oil shales. It is organic precursor for petroleum formation. When heated more they result in the formation of hydrocarbons in liquid and gas state and this is called catagenesis process. Fossil fuel has both organic and hydrocarbon property. When the fuel has low boiling point it is natural gas. When the fuel has high boiling point is diesel and gasoline. Terrestrial plants also serve as a source for natural gas.

Environmental effects of fossil fuels

When supply decreases it ultimately increases the revenue of oil and natural gas economy. It may lead to the search of renewable energy resources as commercial petroleum reserves deplete day by day. Artificial energy resources are expensive. At present hopanoid bacteriohopanetetrol isolated from kerogen proved to accumulate kerogen by microbial activity. 90% of microbial activities are bacteria.  Hopanoid, the abundant biomolecules of earth are found in sediments. Total organic carbon content of hopanoids is 10¹² tons.