Download or read book Geomicrobes Life in Terrestrial Deep Subsurface written by Malin Bomberg and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2017-07-17 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The deep subsurface is, in addition to space, one of the last unknown frontiers to human kind. A significant part of life on Earth resides in the deep subsurface, hiding great potential of microbial life of which we know only little. The conditions in the deep terrestrial subsurface are thought to resemble those of early Earth, which makes this environment an analog for studying early life in addition to possible extraterrestrial life in ultra-extreme conditions. Early microorganisms played a great role in shaping the conditions on the young Earth. Even today deep subsurface microorganisms interact with their geological environment transforming the conditions in the groundwater and on rock surfaces. Essential elements for life are richly present but in difficultly accessible form. The elements driving the microbial deep life is still not completely identified. Most of the microorganisms detected by novel molecular techniques still lack cultured representatives. Nevertheless, using modern sequencing techniques and bioinformatics the functional roles of these microorganisms are being revealed. We are starting to see the differences and similarities between the life in the deep subsurface and surface domains. We may even begin to see the function of evolution by comparing deep life to life closer to the surface of Earth. Deep life consists of organisms from all known domains of life. This Research Topic reveals some of the rich diversity and functional properties of the great biomass residing in the deep dark subsurface.

Download or read book Microbial Life in the Deep Terrestrial Subsurface written by and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The distribution and function of microorganisms is a vital issue in microbial ecology. The US Department of Energy's Program, ''Microbiology of the Deep Subsurface, '' concentrates on establishing fundamental scientific information about organisms at depth, and the use of these organisms for remediation of contaminants in deep vadose zone and groundwater environments. This investigation effectively extends the Biosphere hundreds of meters into the Geosphere and has implications to a variety of subsurface activities.

Download or read book Microbiology of the Terrestrial Deep Subsurface written by Penny S. Amy and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-01-10 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obtaining and analyzing samples is challenging in subsurface science. This first-of-its-kind reference book addresses accomplishments in this field-from drilling to sample work-up. A collaborative approach is taken, involving the efforts of microbiologists, geochemists, hydrologists, and drilling and mining experts to present a comprehensive view of subsurface research. The text provides practical information about obtaining, analyzing, and evaluating subsurface materials; the current status of subsurface microbial ecology; and describes several applications that will interest a variety of readers, including engineers, physical, and life scientists.

Download or read book Deep Subsurface Microbiology written by Andreas Teske and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deep subsurface microbiology is a highly active and rapidly advancing research field at the interface of microbiology and the geosciences; it focuses on the detection, identification, quantification, cultivation and activity measurements of bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes that permeate the subsurface biosphere of deep marine sediments and the basaltic ocean and continental crust. The deep subsurface biosphere abounds with uncultured, only recently discovered and – at best - incompletely understood microbial populations. In spatial extent and volume, Earth's subsurface biosphere is only rivaled by the deep sea water column. So far, no deep subsurface sediment has been found that is entirely devoid of microbial life; microbial cells and DNA remain detectable at sediment depths of more than 1 km; microbial life permeates deeply buried hydrocarbon reservoirs, and is also found several kilometers down in continental crust aquifers. Severe energy limitation, either as electron acceptor or donor shortage, and scarcity of microbially degradable organic carbon sources are among the evolutionary pressures that have shaped the genomic and physiological repertoire of the deep subsurface biosphere. Its biogeochemical role as long-term organic carbon repository, inorganic electron and energy source, and subduction recycling engine continues to be explored by current research at the interface of microbiology, geochemistry and biosphere/geosphere evolution. This Research Topic addresses some of the central research questions about deep subsurface microbiology and biogeochemistry: phylogenetic and physiological microbial diversity in the deep subsurface; microbial activity and survival strategies in severely energy-limited subsurface habitats; microbial activity as reflected in process rates and gene expression patterns; biogeographic isolation and connectivity in deep subsurface microbial communities; the ecological standing of subsurface biospheres in comparison to the surface biosphere – an independently flourishing biosphere, or mere survivors that tolerate burial (along with organic carbon compounds), or a combination of both? Advancing these questions on Earth’s deep subsurface biosphere redefines the habitat range, environmental tolerance, activity and diversity of microbial life.

Download or read book Extreme Environments written by Anita Pandey and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The book will focus on the microbial diversity specifically associated to the extreme environments. Following are the areas we are planning to cover in the book. Overview of microbial diversity associated to extreme environments such as a) Extremophilic microbial diversity covering environments like hot springs, soda lakes, acidic environment, glaciers and oceans etc., b) Functional Microbial Diversity especially on processes like nitrogen and carbon cycling etc., c) Molecular tools in microbial diversity. Whole genome sequencing and metagenomic approaches to study microbial diversity. Future directions of microbial Diversity, mutli-omics approaches"--

Download or read book Microbial Life of the Deep Biosphere written by Jens Kallmeyer and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last two decades, exploration of the deep subsurface biosphere has developed into a major research area. New findings constantly challenge our concepts of global biogeochemical cycles and the ultimate limits to life. In order to explain our observations from deep subsurface ecosystems it is necessary to develop truly interdisciplinary approaches, ranging from microbiology and geochemistry to physics and modeling. This book aims to bring together a wide variety of topics, covering the broad range of issues that are associated with deep biosphere exploration. Not only does the book present case studies of selected projects, but also treats questions arising from our current knowledge. Despite nearly two decades of research, there are still many boundaries to exploration caused by technical limitations and one section of the book is devoted to these technical challenges and the latest developments in this field. This volume will be of high interest to biologists, chemists and earth scientists all working on the deep biosphere.

Download or read book The Chemistry of Microbiomes written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-07-19 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 21st century has witnessed a complete revolution in the understanding and description of bacteria in eco- systems and microbial assemblages, and how they are regulated by complex interactions among microbes, hosts, and environments. The human organism is no longer considered a monolithic assembly of tissues, but is instead a true ecosystem composed of human cells, bacteria, fungi, algae, and viruses. As such, humans are not unlike other complex ecosystems containing microbial assemblages observed in the marine and earth environments. They all share a basic functional principle: Chemical communication is the universal language that allows such groups to properly function together. These chemical networks regulate interactions like metabolic exchange, antibiosis and symbiosis, and communication. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Chemical Sciences Roundtable organized a series of four seminars in the autumn of 2016 to explore the current advances, opportunities, and challenges toward unveiling this "chemical dark matter" and its role in the regulation and function of different ecosystems. The first three focused on specific ecosystemsâ€"earth, marine, and humanâ€"and the last on all microbiome systems. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the seminars.

Download or read book Their World A Diversity of Microbial Environments written by Christon J. Hurst and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-05-02 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume summarizes recent advances in environmental microbiology by providing fascinating insights into the diversity of microbial life that exists on our planet. The first two chapters present theoretical perspectives that help to consolidate our understanding of evolution as an adaptive process by which the niche and habitat of each species develop in a manner that interconnects individual components of an ecosystem. This results in communities that function by simultaneously coordinating their metabolic and physiologic actions. The third contribution addresses the fossil record of microorganisms, and the subsequent chapters then introduce the microbial life that currently exists in various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Coverage of the geosphere addresses endolithic organisms, life in caves and the deep continental biosphere, including how subsurface microbial life may impact spent nuclear fuel repositories. The discussion of the hydrosphere includes hypersaline environments and arctic food chains. By better understanding examples from the micro biosphere, we can elucidate the many ways in which the niches of different species, both large and small, interconnect within the overlapping habitats of this world, which is governed by its microorganisms.

Download or read book The Deep Hot Biosphere written by Thomas Gold and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book sets forth a set of truly controversial and astonishing theories: First, it proposes that below the surface of the earth is a biosphere of greater mass and volume than the biosphere the total sum of living things on our planet's continents and in its oceans. Second, it proposes that the inhabitants of this subterranean biosphere are not plants or animals as we know them, but heat-loving bacteria that survive on a diet consisting solely of hydrocarbons that is, natural gas and petroleum. And third and perhaps most heretically, the book advances the stunning idea that most hydrocarbons on Earth are not the byproduct of biological debris ("fossil fuels"), but were a common constituent of the materials from which the earth itself was formed some 4.5 billion years ago. The implications are astounding. The theory proposes answers to often-asked questions: Is the deep hot biosphere where life originated, and do Mars and other seemingly barren planets contain deep biospheres? Even more provocatively, is it possible that there is an enormous store of hydrocarbons upwelling from deep within the earth that can provide us with abundant supplies of gas and petroleum? However far-fetched these ideas seem, they are supported by a growing body of evidence, and by the indisputable stature and seriousness Gold brings to any scientific debate. In this book we see a brilliant and boldly original thinker, increasingly a rarity in modern science, as he develops potentially revolutionary ideas about how our world works.

Download or read book Carbon in Earth s Interior written by Craig E. Manning and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-04-03 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon in Earth's fluid envelopes - the atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, plays a fundamental role in our planet's climate system and a central role in biology, the environment, and the economy of earth system. The source and original quantity of carbon in our planet is uncertain, as are the identities and relative importance of early chemical processes associated with planetary differentiation. Numerous lines of evidence point to the early and continuing exchange of substantial carbon between Earth's surface and its interior, including diamonds, carbon-rich mantle-derived magmas, carbonate rocks in subduction zones and springs carrying deeply sourced carbon-bearing gases. Thus, there is little doubt that a substantial amount of carbon resides in our planet's interior. Yet, while we know it must be present, carbon's forms, transformations and movements at conditions relevant to the interiors of Earth and other planets remain uncertain and untapped. Volume highlights include: - Reviews key, general topics, such as carbonate minerals, the deep carbon cycle, and carbon in magmas or fluids - Describes new results at the frontiers of the field with presenting results on carbon in minerals, melts, and fluids at extreme conditions of planetary interiors - Brings together emerging insights into carbon's forms, transformations and movements through study of the dynamics, structure, stability and reactivity of carbon-based natural materials - Reviews emerging new insights into the properties of allied substances that carry carbon, into the rates of chemical and physical transformations, and into the complex interactions between moving fluids, magmas, and rocks to the interiors of Earth and other planets - Spans the various chemical redox states of carbon, from reduced hydrocarbons to zero-valent diamond and graphite to oxidized CO2 and carbonates - Captures and synthesizes the exciting results of recent, focused efforts in an emerging scientific discipline - Reports advances over the last decade that have led to a major leap forward in our understanding of carbon science - Compiles the range of methods that can be tapped tap from the deep carbon community, which includes experimentalists, first principles theorists, thermodynamic modelers and geodynamicists - Represents a reference point for future deep carbon science research Carbon in Planetary Interiors will be a valuable resource for researchers and students who study the Earth's interior. The topics of this volume are interdisciplinary, and therefore will be useful to professionals from a wide variety of fields in the Earth Sciences, such as mineral physics, petrology, geochemistry, experimentalists, first principles theorists, thermodynamics, material science, chemistry, geophysics and geodynamics.

Download or read book Adaption of Microbial Life to Environmental Extremes written by Helga Stan-Lotter and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This entirely updated second edition provides an overview on the biology, ecology and biodiversity of extremophiles. Unusual and less explored ecosystems inhabited by extremophiles such as marine hypersaline deeps, extreme cold, desert sands, and man-made clean rooms for spacecraft assembly are presented. An additional focus is put on the role of these highly specialized microorganism in applied research fields, ranging from biotechnology and nanotechnology to astrobiology. Examples such as novel psychrophilic enzymes, compounds from halophiles, and detection strategies for potential extraterrestrial life forms are discussed in detail. The book addresses researchers and advanced students in the fields of microbiology, microbial ecology and biotechnology.

Download or read book Manual of Environmental Microbiology written by Christon J. Hurst and published by American Society for Microbiology Press. This book was released on 2007-05-14 with total page 3023 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most definitive manual of microbes in air, water, and soil and their impact on human health and welfare. • Incorporates a summary of the latest methodology used to study the activity and fate of microorganisms in various environments. • Synthesizes the latest information on the assessment of microbial presence and microbial activity in natural and artificial environments. • Features a section on biotransformation and biodegradation. • Serves as an indispensable reference for environmental microbiologists, microbial ecologists, and environmental engineers, as well as those interested in human diseases, water and wastewater treatment, and biotechnology.

Download or read book The Dominance of the Archaea in the Terrestrial Subsurface written by Michael D. Johnston and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studies on deep aquatic ecosystems have demonstrated that the distribution of the Bacteria and the Archaea changes dramatically with depth and resource availability. At deeper depths, archaeal populations were shown to dominate and often surpass bacterial populations in abundance. Given this variable trend in deep aquatic systems, we explored whether subterrestrial populations of bacteria and archaea fluctuated similarly. Lechuguilla Cave provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine bacteria and archaea populations to a depth of 400 meters within a well-preserved subsurface ecosystem. The microbial community present at each cave depth was quantified using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) microscopy, absolute qPCR and GDGT lipid analysis, whereas rock/sediment samples were collected for geochemical analysis. The results of our study demonstrated that the Archaea dominated the microbial populations below a depth of 250 m. Our elemental analyses demonstrated that the concentration of organic carbon, nitrogen and iron are important factors regulating the abundance of bacteria and archaea at a particular depth. Geochemical analyses revealed that nitrogen limitation produced exceptionally high organic C:N ratios at the deepest depths, which would suggest that microbial populations should be dramatically declining due to the difficulty in obtaining the nutrients necessary for cellular maintenance and growth. Instead, microbial communities were found to only slightly decline in size at deeper depths, suggesting compensating mechanisms (e.g. autotrophy, nitrogen fixation) were responsible in sustaining populations. Microorganisms are known to be critical players in global geochemical cycles through a variety of energy-yielding redox reactions, yet few studies have examined the community structure and physiology of microorganisms within the deep terrestrial subsurface. Our study revealed that archaea dominated microbial populations at deeper depths, presumably through domain-unique adaptations that allow them to survive in these nutrient-stressed conditions. Thus, a better understanding of archaeal-mineral interactions in the subsurface would lead to a greater understanding of the energy dynamics associated with extreme nutrient limitation and the limits of microbial life on Earth.

Download or read book Microbiology of the Terrestrial Deep Subsurface written by Penny S. Amy and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1997-03-12 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obtaining and analyzing samples is challenging in subsurface science. This first-of-its-kind reference book addresses accomplishments in this field-from drilling to sample work-up. A collaborative approach is taken, involving the efforts of microbiologists, geochemists, hydrologists, and drilling and mining experts to present a comprehensive view of subsurface research. The text provides practical information about obtaining, analyzing, and evaluating subsurface materials; the current status of subsurface microbial ecology; and describes several applications that will interest a variety of readers, including engineers, physical, and life scientists.

Download or read book Microbial Imaging written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2004-12-18 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent advances in molecular technology have provided new microbial imaging tools, not only complementing more classical methods, but in many cases significantly enhancing the sensitivity and efficiency in which studies may be conducted. These technologies are applicable to a wide range of problems in contemporary microbiology, including strain selection, understanding microbial structure, function and pathophysiology, as well as in the development of anti-microbial agents and vaccines. This volume emphasizes detailed methodology, provides a theoretical background and lists potential applications of specific imaging tools. * Edited by two experts in the field * Applicable to a broad Microbiology readership * Highly illustrated * Provides in-depth accounts from scientists working with cutting edge technologies * Facilitates researchers who involve Microbial Imaging in their work

Download or read book Extremophiles as Astrobiological Models written by Joseph Seckbach and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-01-13 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The data in this book are new or updated, and will serve also as Origin of Life and evolutionary studies. Endospores of bacteria have a long history of use as model organisms in astrobiology, including survival in extreme environments and interplanetary transfer of life. Numerous other bacteria as well as archaea, lichens, fungi, algae and tiny animals (tardigrades, or water bears) are now being investigated for their tolerance to extreme conditions in simulated or real space environments. Experimental results from exposure studies on the International Space Station and space probes for up to 1.5 years are presented and discussed. Suggestions for extaterrestrial energy sources are also indicated. Audience Researchers and graduate students in microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and astrobiology, as well as anyone interested in the search for extraterrestrial life and its technical preparations.

Download or read book Microbial Life of Cave Systems written by Annette Summers Engel and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The earth's subsurface contains abundant and active microbial biomass, living in water, occupying pore space, and colonizing mineral and rock surfaces. Caves are one type of subsurface habitat, being natural, solutionally- or collapse-enlarged openings in rock. Within the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the number of microbiology studies from cave environments to understand cave ecology, cave geology, and even the origins of life. By emphasizing the microbial life of caves, and the ecological processes and geological consequences attributed to microbes, this book provides the first authoritative and comprehensive account of the microbial life of caves for students, professionals, and general readers.