Download or read book Role of Microbial Communities in Mediating Ecosystem Response to Disturbance written by Erica A. H. Smithwick and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Part I written by Erica A. H. Smithwick and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Role of Microbial Communities in Mediating an Ecosystem s Response to Global Change written by Kristin L. Matulich and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A central goal of global change biology is to predict the impact of environmental change on ecosystem processes. Currently, most global change models treat the local microbial community as a single, homogenously functioning entity, thereby assuming that the specific microbial composition is functionally irrelevant. However, microorganisms perform key transformations in ecosystems, and recent research demonstrates that microbial communities vary greatly across space and in response to environmental change. Therefore, parameters describing microbial communities may be key for improving predictions of how future global changes will impact ecosystem processes. For this reason, my dissertation research examined the effect of environmental changes on resident communities and determined how potential shifts in microbial community composition will impact litter decomposition rates. To accomplish this, I gathered litter samples from a chaparral ecosystem undergoing global change manipulations (elevated nitrogen availability or reduced precipitation), and characterized the microbial community using 454 high-throughput sequencing (Chapter 1). While microbial communities are much more variable through time, this research showed that microbial composition will likely shift in response to environmental change. I also examined the role of microbial community composition for a key ecosystem process, litter decomposition, and how that role changes under environmental perturbations. By isolating microbial taxa from the same ecosystem discussed above, I constructed artificial microbial communities with varying composition. I then conducted a laboratory experiment in which I subjected the communities to different global change manipulations and monitored decomposition rates and community composition (Chapter 2). Microbial composition had a main effect on leaf litter decomposition and also interacted with the environmental treatment, suggesting that future shifts in microbial communities will influence the magnitude in which environmental change affects ecosystem processes. Lastly, I investigated the functional and response traits of individual microbial taxa to better predict how microbial communities might respond to global change perturbations, and found that many functional traits displayed a phylogenetic pattern, but a taxa's response to increased temperature did not (Chapter 3). Ultimately, this set of studies further justifies the need to incorporate microbial communities into models and begins to identify which parameters might be most relevant.

Download or read book Microbial Responses to Environmental Changes written by Jürg B. Logue and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2016-01-20 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advances in next generation sequencing technologies, omics, and bioinformatics are revealing a tremendous and unsuspected diversity of microbes, both at a compositional and functional level. Moreover, the expansion of ecological concepts into microbial ecology has greatly advanced our comprehension of the role microbes play in the functioning of ecosystems across a wide range of biomes. Super-imposed on this new information about microbes, their functions and how they are organized, environmental gradients are changing rapidly, largely driven by direct and indirect human activities. In the context of global change, understanding the mechanisms that shape microbial communities is pivotal to predict microbial responses to novel selective forces and their implications at the local as well as global scale. One of the main features of microbial communities is their ability to react to changes in the environment. Thus, many studies have reported changes in the performance and composition of communities along environmental gradients. However, the mechanisms underlying these responses remain unclear. It is assumed that the response of microbes to changes in the environment is mediated by a complex combination of shifts in the physiological properties, single-cell activities, or composition of communities: it may occur by means of physiological adjustments of the taxa present in a community or selecting towards more tolerant/better adapted phylotypes. Knowing whether certain factors trigger one, many, or all mechanisms would greatly increase confidence in predictions of future microbial composition and processes. This Research Topic brings together studies that applied the latest molecular techniques for studying microbial composition and functioning and integrated ecological, biogeochemical and/or modeling approaches to provide a comprehensive and mechanistic perspective of the responses of micro-organisms to environmental changes. This Research Topic presents new findings on environmental parameters influencing microbial communities, the type and magnitude of response and differences in the response among microbial groups, and which collectively deepen our current understanding and knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of microbial structural and functional responses to environmental changes and gradients in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The body of work has, furthermore, identified many challenges and questions that yet remain to be addressed and new perspectives to follow up on.

Download or read book The Social Biology of Microbial Communities written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-01-10 with total page 633 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with the germ theory of disease in the 19th century and extending through most of the 20th century, microbes were believed to live their lives as solitary, unicellular, disease-causing organisms . This perception stemmed from the focus of most investigators on organisms that could be grown in the laboratory as cellular monocultures, often dispersed in liquid, and under ambient conditions of temperature, lighting, and humidity. Most such inquiries were designed to identify microbial pathogens by satisfying Koch's postulates.3 This pathogen-centric approach to the study of microorganisms produced a metaphorical "war" against these microbial invaders waged with antibiotic therapies, while simultaneously obscuring the dynamic relationships that exist among and between host organisms and their associated microorganisms-only a tiny fraction of which act as pathogens. Despite their obvious importance, very little is actually known about the processes and factors that influence the assembly, function, and stability of microbial communities. Gaining this knowledge will require a seismic shift away from the study of individual microbes in isolation to inquiries into the nature of diverse and often complex microbial communities, the forces that shape them, and their relationships with other communities and organisms, including their multicellular hosts. On March 6 and 7, 2012, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop to explore the emerging science of the "social biology" of microbial communities. Workshop presentations and discussions embraced a wide spectrum of topics, experimental systems, and theoretical perspectives representative of the current, multifaceted exploration of the microbial frontier. Participants discussed ecological, evolutionary, and genetic factors contributing to the assembly, function, and stability of microbial communities; how microbial communities adapt and respond to environmental stimuli; theoretical and experimental approaches to advance this nascent field; and potential applications of knowledge gained from the study of microbial communities for the improvement of human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health and toward a deeper understanding of microbial diversity and evolution. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary further explains the happenings of the workshop.

Download or read book Disturbance Ecology of Soil Microbial Communities in Response to the Centralia Pa Coal Fire written by Jackson Winther Sorensen and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Microbial communities are ubiquitous in our world and play important roles in biogeochemical and ecosystems processes on Earth. The ability of these microbial communities to provide these different processes is frequently tied to their community structure, which can be thought of both in terms of membership (i.e. who is there) and the relative abundance of these members. Changes in environmental conditions often lead to changes in microbial community structure as well. Microbial communities are formed through the process of assembly, which in turn is driven by the four processes of 1) Selection 2) Dispersal 3) Drift and 4) Diversification. Understanding the relative importance of each of these processes in different systems is important for predicting how microbial communities will change in response to disturbances. This dissertation presents work that uses the coal fire in Centralia, PA as a model press disturbance for understanding soil microbial community responses to and recovery from disturbance. The experiments herein aim to shed light the relative roles of Selection, Dispersal, and Drift in governing these responses in soil microbial communities experience a temperature disturbance. An observation study of a chronosequence of fire disturbance in Centralia, PA is used to generate hypotheses as to the relative roles of Selection, Dispersal, and Drift in the assembly of soil microbial communities experiencing a temperature disturbance. Further, an in depth look at some of these communities using shotgun metagenomics is used to observe specific microbial traits and characteristics selected for by the temperature disturbance. Finally, a laboratory soil mesocosm warming experiment investigates the relative influence of Dispersal and dormancy in governing responses to and recovery from disturbance.

Download or read book Microbial Evolution and Co Adaptation written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2009-05-10 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Joshua Lederberg - scientist, Nobel laureate, visionary thinker, and friend of the Forum on Microbial Threats - died on February 2, 2008. It was in his honor that the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Microbial Threats convened a public workshop on May 20-21, 2008, to examine Dr. Lederberg's scientific and policy contributions to the marketplace of ideas in the life sciences, medicine, and public policy. The resulting workshop summary, Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation, demonstrates the extent to which conceptual and technological developments have, within a few short years, advanced our collective understanding of the microbiome, microbial genetics, microbial communities, and microbe-host-environment interactions.

Download or read book The Role of Microbial Communities in Tropical Ecosystems written by Silvia Pajares and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2017-01-13 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tropical ecosystems are different in important ways from those of temperate regions. They are a major reservoir of plant and animal biodiversity and play important roles in global climate regulation and biogeochemical cycling. They are also under great threat due to the conversion of tropical ecosystems to other uses. Thus, in the context of global change, it is crucial to understand how environmental factors, biogeographic patterns, and land use changes interact to influence the structure and function of microbial communities in these ecosystems. The contributions to this Research Topic showcase the current knowledge regarding microbial ecology in tropical ecosystems, identify many challenges and questions that remain to be addressed and open up new horizons in our understanding of the environmental and anthropological factors controlling microbial communities in these important ecosystems.

Download or read book Biological Diversity and Function in Soils written by Richard Bardgett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-22 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dynamic nature of current research into soil biodiversity is reflected in this excellent volume.

Download or read book Nonparametric Statistical Methods written by Myles Hollander and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-11-25 with total page 872 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for the Second Edition “This book should be an essential part of the personal library of every practicing statistician.”—Technometrics Thoroughly revised and updated, the new edition of Nonparametric Statistical Methods includes additional modern topics and procedures, more practical data sets, and new problems from real-life situations. The book continues to emphasize the importance of nonparametric methods as a significant branch of modern statistics and equips readers with the conceptual and technical skills necessary to select and apply the appropriate procedures for any given situation. Written by leading statisticians, Nonparametric Statistical Methods, Third Edition provides readers with crucial nonparametric techniques in a variety of settings, emphasizing the assumptions underlying the methods. The book provides an extensive array of examples that clearly illustrate how to use nonparametric approaches for handling one- or two-sample location and dispersion problems, dichotomous data, and one-way and two-way layout problems. In addition, the Third Edition features: The use of the freely available R software to aid in computation and simulation, including many new R programs written explicitly for this new edition New chapters that address density estimation, wavelets, smoothing, ranked set sampling, and Bayesian nonparametrics Problems that illustrate examples from agricultural science, astronomy, biology, criminology, education, engineering, environmental science, geology, home economics, medicine, oceanography, physics, psychology, sociology, and space science Nonparametric Statistical Methods, Third Edition is an excellent reference for applied statisticians and practitioners who seek a review of nonparametric methods and their relevant applications. The book is also an ideal textbook for upper-undergraduate and first-year graduate courses in applied nonparametric statistics.

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 Environmental and Microbial Relationships written by Irina S. Druzhinina and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-03-18 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides insights into current research on fungal populations, communities and their interactions with other organisms. It focuses on fungal responses to the physical environment; interactions with bacteria, other fungi, invertebrates and plants; the role of fungi in ecosystem processes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling; and aspects of biogeography and conservation. Since the publication of the second edition of Volume IV in 2007, the massive use of “omics” methods has revolutionized our understanding of fungal lifestyles. Highlighting these advances, the third edition has been completely updated and revised. Several chapters deal with various applications of genomics and transcriptomics in biological pest control, as well as interactions with other living systems. This is an invaluable source of information both for scientists who wish to update their knowledge of current advances and for graduate students interested in obtaining a comprehensive introduction to this field of research.

Download or read book Linking Ecosystem Function to Microbial Diversity written by Anne E. Bernhard and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2016-10-20 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding the link between microbial diversity and ecosystem processes is a fundamental goal of microbial ecologists, yet we still have a rudimentary knowledge of how changes in diversity affect nutrient cycling and energy transfer in ecosystems. Due to the complexity of the problem, many published studies on this topic have been conducted in artificial or manipulated systems. Although researchers have begun to expose some possible mechanisms using these approaches, most have not yet been able to produce conclusive results that relate directly to natural systems. The few studies that have explored the link between diversity and activity in natural systems have typically focused on specific nutrient cycles or processes, such as nitrification, denitrification, and organic carbon degradation pathways, and the microbes that mediate them. What we have learned from these studies is that there are often strong associations between the physical and chemical features of the environment, the composition of the microbial communities, and their activities, but the rules that govern these associations have not been fully elucidated. These earlier studies of microbial diversity and processes in natural systems provide a framework for additional studies to broaden our understanding of the role of microbial diversity in ecosystem function. The problem is complex, but with recent advances in sequencing technology, -omics, and in-situ measurements of ecosystem processes and their applications to microbial communities, making direct connections between ecosystem function and microbial diversity seems more tractable than ever.

Download or read book Microbial Life in the Cryosphere and Its Feedback on Global Change written by Susanne Liebner and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2021-01-18 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cryosphere stands for environments where water appears in a frozen form. It includes permafrost, glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice and is currently more affected by Global Change than most other regions of the Earth. In the cryosphere, limited water availability and subzero temperatures cause extreme conditions for all kind of life which microorganisms can cope with extremely well. The cryosphere’s microbiota displays an unexpectedly large genetic potential, and taxonomic as well as functional diversity which, however, we still only begin to map. Also, microbial communities influence reaction patterns of the cryosphere towards Global Change. Altered patterns of seasonal temperature fluctuations and precipitation are expected in the Arctic and will affect the microbial turnover of soil organic matter (SOM). Activation of nutrients by thawing and increased active layer thickness as well as erosion renders nutrient stocks accessible to microbial activities. Also, glacier melt and retreat stimulate microbial life in turn influencing albedo and surface temperatures. In this context, the functional resilience of microbial communities in the cryosphere is of major interest. Particularly important is the ability of microorganisms and microbial communities to respond to changes in their surroundings by intracellular regulation and population shifts within functional niches, respectively. Research on microbial life exposed to permanent freeze or seasonal freeze-thaw cycles has led to astonishing findings about microbial versatility, adaptation, and diversity. Microorganisms thrive in cold habitats and new sequencing techniques have produced large amounts of genomic, metagenomic, and metatranscriptomic data that allow insights into the fascinating microbial ecology and physiology at low and subzero temperatures. Moreover, some of the frozen ecosystems such as permafrost constitute major global carbon and nitrogen storages, but can also act as sources of the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. In this book we summarize state of the art knowledge on whether environmental changes are met by a flexible microbial community retaining its function, or if the altered conditions also render the community in a state of altered properties that affect the Earth’s element cycles and climate. This book brings together research on the cryosphere’s microbiota including permafrost, glaciers, and sea ice in Arctic and Antarctic regions. Different spatial scales and levels of complexity are considered, spanning from ecosystem level to pure culture studies of model microbes in the laboratory. It aims to attract a wide range of parties with interest in the effect of climate change and/or low temperatures on microbial nutrient cycling and physiology.

Download or read book Microbial Ecotoxicology written by Cristiana Cravo-Laureau and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-08-01 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a treatise on microbial ecotoxicology, discussing the effect of pollutants on microbial ecosystems and the role of microorganisms in ecosystems services. Emphasizing the microbial responses to pollution at different biological levels, it focuses on metabolic pathways, genetic adaptation and response at the whole-microbial community level. It also addresses the ecological indicators of ecosystem recovery, as well as microbial biomarkers and biosensors as tools for microbial ecotoxicology.

Download or read book Microbial Community Response to Environmental Change During the Anthropocene written by Cody Edward Garrison and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Microbial community composition and functional potential can be affected by human-derived environmental changes during the Anthropocene with important consequences for elemental cycling and whole ecosystem processes. This study tested the hypothesis that environmental changes impact microbial communities across different spatial and temporal scales. The main objectives of this study were to determine 1) biocorrosion-causing organism colonization and abundance on man-made steel structures, 2) the identity and function of a core microbiome across steel microbial communities, and 3) the response of coastal microbial communities to extreme hurricane disturbance events. Steel microbiomes represent microbial responses to environmental disturbance (i.e., introduction of a novel substrate and surface environment) on small spatial scales but long temporal scales. Conversely, microbial responses to extreme storm events provide insight into disturbances affecting large spatial scales but short temporal scales. Stainless steel (304 and 316) deployments along salinity gradients in two North Carolina estuarine river systems resulted in increased colonization of iron-oxidizing bacteria on more-corrosion-resistant stainless steel (316) and at higher salinities. A novel iron-oxidizer species Mariprofundus erugo was isolated and sequenced, revealing genes for molybdenum utilization and reactive oxygen species protection, which may represent adaptations towards advanced steel types. Comparisons of microbial communities across stainless steel and historic ferrous-hulled shipwreck steel in the Pamlico Sound, NC revealed a "core steel microbiome" of heterotrophic generalists that likely play important roles in biofilm protection and functional stability for biocorrosion communities. Shifting scales, extreme hurricane events were correlated with changes in total (DNA) and active (RNA) coastal bacterial but not archaeal communities, and in the water column but not in sediments. Offshore marine sites exhibited decreased community diversity and evenness and increased abundance of copiotrophs. Hurricanes were also correlated with increased putative function of pathogenic taxa (i.e., Prevotella and Legionella) and lignin-degrading taxa, likely causing decreased water quality and increased bacterial production. These environmental disturbances across different spatial and temporal scales show that microbial communities are constantly responding and adapting to survive. Microbial communities have shown to be extremely resilient to Anthropocene conditions, and the microbial responses in this study can be applied to better understand future global change scenarios.

Download or read book Land Use Intensification written by Saul Cunningham and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2012-07-18 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There can be little doubt that there are truly colossal challenges associated with providing food, fibre and energy for an expanding world population without further accelerating already rapid rates of biodiversity loss and undermining the ecosystem processes on which we all depend. These challenges are further complicated by rapid changes in climate and its additional direct impacts on agriculture, biodiversity and ecological processes. There are many different viewpoints about the best way to deal with the myriad issues associated with land use intensification and this book canvasses a number of these from different parts of the tropical and temperate world. Chapters focus on whether science can suggest new and improved approaches to reducing the conflict between productive land use and biodiversity conservation. Who should read this book? Policy makers in regional, state and federal governments, as well as scientists and the interested lay public.