Download or read book Microbial Communities written by Heribert Insam and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research on decomposer communities of terrestrial ecosystems for a long time has focussed on microbial biomass and gross turnover parameters. Recently, more and more attempts are made to look beyond the biomass, and more specifically determine functions and populations on a smaller scale-in time and space. A multitude of techniques is being improved and developed. Garland and Mills (1991) triggered a series of publications on substrate utilization tests in the field of microbial ecology. Despite several promising results for different applications in different laboratories, many problems concerning the assay and the interpretation of results became evident. After individual discussions on the approach with colleagues from various laboratories we started to plan a workshop on the matter. The response on our first circular was extraordinary, and instead of a small workshop it became a meeting with almost 150 participants. The meeting was named 'Substrate use for characterization of microbial communities in terrestrial ecosystems' (SUBMECO) and was held in Innsbruck, Austria, from Oct. 16-18, 1996. The very focussed scope attracted enthusiastic advocates of the approach, and also serious critics. Some of the topics concerned improvements of current inoculation and incubation techniques, ranging from sample pre-treatment, inoculum density and incubation temperature to statistical data handling. New methods for calculating microbial diversity were proposed, as well as bootstrap methods that allow statistics with many variables on a relatively low number of replicates.

Download or read book The Significance and Regulation of Soil Biodiversity written by Harold P. Collins and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1995-05-31 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected Papers from an International Symposium held at East Lansing, Michigan, USA, May 1993

Download or read book Fatty Acid Profiling of Soil Microbial Communities written by MARCELO FERREIRA FERNANDES Fernandes and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A method based on fatty acid (FA) analysis is used to profile microbial community structure (MCS). Various extraction protocols are available, which alter the types of FAs extracted from soils. The more time consuming but widely used protocol extracts only FAs from phospholipids (PLFA). This technique is desirable because PLFAs are largely of microbial origin and from viable cells, since they rapidly degrade upon microbial death. This stands in contrast to other more rapid methods that directly extract FAs but may extract FAs of non-microbial origin. In this thesis, two such methods of FA extraction (EL-FAME and MIDI) were compared to PLFA extracts for detecting shifts and interpreting profiles of MSC. Soil samples from a wide array of vegetation and climatic conditions were extracted by these methods, and their FA composition analyzed by gas chromatography. MIDI extracts contained major plant-specific FAs. Ordination multivariate analysis showed that separation of MCS among samples was driven mostly by these FAs, rather than by microbial FA markers. The degree of similarity between EL-FAME and PLFA results was affected by the environmental conditions. The major differences among methods were in the general fungal and arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungal markers that were related to the vegetation type where soils were found. Nevertheless, cross-sample relative differences in the amounts of prokaryote FAs were not impacted by EL-FAME relative to PLFA. PLFA also was used to track shifts in MCS during the decomposition of two residues of contrasting chemical composition (maize stover, MS; and coconut husk, CH), under two N rates in a Brazilian soil. Microbial biomass-C (MBC), respiration rates and activity of C-cycle enzymes were concomitantly evaluated. A laboratory incubation was conducted for 425 d that included a simulated drought period between days 160 and 290. MS significantly impacted MCS and increased respiration rates, MBC, and enzyme activities; while changes due to CH were more subtle or non-existent. In MS, N reduced the CO2-C losses from soil, but caused no change in MBC. Higher respiration rates under low N were associated with a more bacterial-dominated community, and a higher laccase activity.

Download or read book Analytical Geomicrobiology written by Janice P. L. Kenney and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-18 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive handbook outlining state-of-the-art analytical techniques used in geomicrobiology, for advanced students, researchers and professional scientists.

Download or read book Amazonian Dark Earths Wim Sombroek s Vision written by William I. Woods and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-11-16 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amazonian soils are almost universally thought of as extremely forbidding. However, it is now clear that complex societies with large, sedentary populations were present for over a millennium before European contact. Associated with these are tracts of anomalously fertile, dark soils termed ‘terra preta’ or dark earths. These soils are presently an important agricultural resource within Amazonia and provide a model for developing long-term future sustainability of food production in tropical environments. The late Dutch soil scientist Wim Sombroek (1934-2003) was instrumental in bringing the significance of these soils to the attention of the world over four decades ago. Wim saw not only the possibilities of improving the lives of small holders throughout the world with simple carbon based soil technologies, but was an early proponent of the positive synergies also achieved in regards to carbon sequestration and global climatic change abatement. Wim’s vision was to form a multidisciplinary group whose members maintained the ideal of open collaboration toward the attainment of shared goals. Always encouraged and often shaped by Wim, this free association of international scholars termed the “Terra Preta Nova” Group came together in 2001 and has flourished. This effort has been defined by enormous productivity. Wim who is never far from any of our minds and hearts, would have loved to share the great experience of seeing the fruits of his vision as demonstrated in this volume.

Download or read book Fatty Acid Methyl Ester Analysis of Complex Soil and Rhizosphere Microbial Communities written by Diane Denise Jurkonie and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensics written by Karl Ritz and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-12-23 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soils have important roles to play in criminal and environmental forensic science. Since the initial concept of using soil in forensic investigations was mooted by Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories prior to real-world applications, this branch of forensic science has become increasingly sophisticated and broad. New techniques in chemical, physical, biological, ecological and spatial analysis, coupled with informatics, are being applied to reducing areas of search by investigators, site identification, site comparison and measurement for the eventual use as evidence in court. Soils can provide intelligence, in assisting the determination of the provenance of samples from artifacts, victims or suspects, enabling their linkage to locations or other evidence. They also modulate change in surface or buried cadavers and hence affect the ability to estimate post-mortem or post-burial intervals, and locate clandestine graves. This interdisciplinary volume explores the conceptual and practical interplay of soil and geoforensics across the scientific, investigative and legal fields. Supported by reviews, case-studies from across the world, and reports of original research, it demonstrates the increasing convergence of a wide range of knowledge. It covers conceptual issues, evidence (from recovery to use in court), geoforensics, taphonomy, as well as leading-edge technologies. The application of the resultant soil forensics toolbox is leading to significant advances in improving crime detection, and environmental and national security.

Download or read book Soil Microbial Communities in Agroecosystems written by Deborah Ann Bossio and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Soil Biochemistry written by J.-M. Bollag and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-12 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the role of biochemical processes in the soil environment, particularly the activity of microorganisms, and the potential application of those processes to environmental biotechnology. The 11 papers also highlight the application of molecular biology and microbial genetics to soil biology a

Download or read book Molecular Microbial Ecology Manual written by Antoon D. L. Akkermans and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-01-13 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For a long time microbial ecology has been developed as a distinct field within Ecology. In spite of the important role of microorganisms in the environment, this group of 'invisible' organisms remained unaccessable to other ecologists. Detection and identification of microorganisms remain largely dependent on isolation techniques and characterisation of pure cul tures. We now realise that only a minor fraction of the microbial com munity can be cultivated. As a result of the introduction of molecular methods, microbes can now be detected and identified at the DNA/RNA level in their natural environment. This has opened a new field in ecology: Molecular Microbial Ecology. In the present manual we aim to introduce the microbial ecologist to a selected number of current molecular techniques that are relevant in micro bial ecology. The first edition of the manual contains 33 chapters and an equal number of additional chapters will be added this year. Since the field of molecular ecology is in a continuous progress, we aim to update and extend the Manual regularly and will invite anyone to depo sit their new protocols in full detail in the next edition of this Manual. We hope this book finds its place where it was born: at the lab bench! Antoon D.L. Akkermans, Jan Dirk van Elsas and Frans J. de Bruijn March 1995 Molecular Microbial Ecology Manual 1.3.6: 1-8, 1996. © 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Download or read book Fatty Acid Biomarker Analysis to Characterize Soil Microbial Communities in Soybean Agroecosystems with Sclerotinia Stem Rot Disease written by Richard Jeannotte and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is one the major crops produced worldwide. However, soybean is susceptible to many diseases. Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) disease caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary is considered one of the most important fungal diseases of soybean. It can be controlled by chemicals (e.g. fungicides), by breeding cultivars with disease resistance and by cultural control (e.g. increasing the width between rows, reducing plant populations). A promising and complementary method of controlling SSR disease in the field is the application of biological control agents. Biological control agents introduced in a soil environment will interact with other soil food web organisms, as do the pathogenic organism and infected plants, which may change the genetic and functional diversity in soil microbial communities. Profiling these changes may lead to an improved understanding of the interactions between these players (biological control agents, pathogens, soil biota and plants) in the biological control phenomenom, permiting us to exploit naturally-occurring ecological relationships and develop more sustainable approaches to control soybean diseases. Fatty acid biomarkers analysis was used to profile microbial communities in soils. Two laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the methods used for extraction and profiling the fatty acid biomarkers from soil samples with a range of soil properties (clay content, organic matter content), The first study investigated the best solvent mixture for recovering fatty acid biomarkers from soil using an automated pressurized solvent extraction (PSE) system. Solvent mixtures containing chloroform and methanol were more efficient at extracting fatty acids from agricultural soils than hexane:2-propanol and acetone. The second study presented an exploratory pyrolysis-mass spectrometry technique to rapidly fingerprint soil lipids extracted from different agroecosystems. Pyrolysis-mass spectrometry discriminated among soils and crop production systems in the same way as the fatty acid profiling. I also report on the efficicacy of biological control agents to control Sclerotinia stem rot disease in soybean. A two-year study was conducted in soybean fields under conventional or no tillage to determine whether Trichoderma virens (SoilGard(TM)) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (a mixture of Glomus intraradices and G. mosseae ), used alone or in combination, could reduce sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) disease incidence. Generally, SSR disease indicators, as well as the soybean yield, were not affected significantly by the biological control treatments. I then studied whether changes in microbial community composition were related to the inoculation of the biological control agents and the disease incidence in soybean fields. Inoculation of biological control agents changes the expression of many soil fatty acids during both years of the trial. Also, in the plots with severely diseased plants, fatty acids biomarkers of gram positive and actinomycetes bacteria were significantly greater than in plots with healthy plants. I conclude that further improvement in laboratory techniques and procedures will permit researchers to efficiently extract and characterize soil lipids, providing new insight into soil organic matter dynamics and soil microbial ecology. Further study will be needed to verify the efficacy and optimize the application method, dose and timing of biocontrol agents to provide protection against SSR disease in soybean fields." --

Download or read book The Use of Phospholipid Fatty Acid Profiles to Determine the Diversity of Soil Microbial Communities of Managed Woodland Stands written by Stephen Michael Morris and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Phospholipid Fatty Acid Analysis to Detect Changes in Soil Microbial Community Structure written by Åsa Frostegård and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Lipids in Plants and Microbes written by J. Harwood and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This short text is designed to provide basic information about plant and microbial lipids not only for scientists working in the microbiological and plant fields, but for anyone wanting a concise introduction to this aspect of lipid biochemistry. We have long been aware that standard biochemistry books tend to. concentrate (sometimes exclusively) on animal lipids, thus neglecting many of the important and special features of other organisms. It is not our intention that the book should be comprehensive and we have not, for instance, provided complete lists of lipid compositions of all plants and bacterial species; a number of excellent specialist texts exist and many of these are listed for further reading. Instead we have sought to provide sufficient information for an advanced undergraduate or a research student to give them a 'feel' for the subject. By a combination of generalisation and the use of examples of special interest we hope the book will whet the appetite of the reader so that, by their own research, they are stimulated to discover and, perhaps, answer some of the fascinating questions concerning plant and microbial lipids. We trust that we shall succeed in these aims, even if that will mean more competition for research funds in our own fields! J. L. HARWOOD N. J. RUSSELL November 1983 Acknowledgements Our research careers have been devoted to a study of lipids: we have no regrets and are happy to acknowledge Professors J. N.

Download or read book The Utilization of Bioremediation to Reduce Soil Contamination Problems and Solutions written by Václav Sasek and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional reliance on chemical analysis to understand the direction and extent of treatment in a bioremediation process has been found to be inadequate. Whereas the goal of bioremediation is toxicity reduction, few direct, reliable measures of this process are as yet available. Another area of intense discussion is the assessment of market forces contributing to the acceptability of bioremediation. Finally, another important component is a series of lectures and lively exchanges devoted to practical applications of different bioremediation technologies. The range of subjects covers a wide spectrum, encompassing emerging technologies as well as actual, full-scale operations. Examples discussed include landfarming, biopiling, composting, phytoremediation and mycoremediation. Each technology is explored for its utility and capability to provide desired treatment goals. Advantages and limitations of each technology are discussed. The concept of natural attenuation is also critically evaluated since in some cases where time to remediation is not a significant factor, it may be an alternative to active bioremediation operations.

Download or read book Microbiological Methods for Assessing Soil Quality written by Jaap Bloem and published by CABI. This book was released on 2005-12-20 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a selection of microbiological methods which are applicable or already applied in regional or national soil quality monitoring programmes. An overview is given of approaches to monitoring, evaluating and managing soil quality (Part I), followed by a selection of methods which are described in sufficient detail to use the book as a practical handbook in the laboratory (Part II). Finally a census is given of the main methods used in over 30 European laboratories. The book is aimed at different levels: soil scientists, technicians, policy makers, land managers and students.

Download or read book Lipid Analysis written by W. W. Christie and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2010-01-10 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This well-known and highly successful book was first published in 1973 and has been completely re-written in subsequent editions (published in 1982 and 2003). This new Fourth Edition has become necessary because of the pace of developments in mass spectrometry of intact lipids, which has given recognition of lipid analysis and ‘lipidomics’ as a distinct science. To bring the book up to date with these developments, author William W. Christie is joined by co-author Xianlin Han. Although devoting considerable space to mass spectrometry and lipidomics, Lipid analysis remains a practical guide, in one volume, to the complexities of the analysis of lipids. As in past editions, it is designed to act as a primary source, of value at the laboratory bench rather than residing on a library shelf. Lipid analysis deals with the isolation, separation, identification and structural analysis of glycerolipids, including triacylglycerols, phospholipids, sphingolipids, and the various hydrolysis products of these. The chapters follow a logical sequence from the extraction of lipids to the isolation and characterization of particular lipid classes and of molecular species of each, and to the mass spectrometric analysis of lipids and lipidomics. The new influence of mass spectrometry is due mainly to the development of electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI). Most emphasis in this book is placed on ESI, which is enabling structural characterization of different lipid classes and the identification of novel lipids and their molecular species.