In a surprise discovery, scientists have found that bacteria quickly consumed most of the methane released from last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Within 120 days from the Deepwater Horizon explosion, bacteria had gobbled up most of the 200,000 tons of methane released from the ruptured well, according to an article published yesterday in the journal Science. This brought the level of methane to "background levels," according to David Valentine, part of the study and a professor of microbial geochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Scientists found evidence of this from lower oxygen levels in the area and from a community of bacteria that is known to take up methane.

"They are like the cat that ate the canary, sitting there with feathers on the face," Valentine said.

Valentine said he expected the methane "to stick around a year or more," but it appears that because there was so much methane, the bacteria consumed it quickly.

The discovery could have implications for climate change research. It suggests that bacteria may be able to stymie the release of methane, a greenhouse gas, as the world warms (Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 6). -- AP