Biodegradation and gas-exchange of gaseous alkanes in model estuarine ecosystems

Gas-exchange biodegradation experiments conducted in model estuarine ecosystems indicate that the ease of degradation of gaseious normal alkanes increases with chain length. The behaviour of gaseous perhalogenated alkanes can be explained by gas exchange alone with no degradation. The initial degradation of C3 and C4 alkanes proceeded with half times of a few days to a few weeks, however, after a period of 15–30 days, the rates of degradation increased by at least an order of magnitude.