Skip to main content

ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY

 Environmental microbiology is the study of microorganisms in their natural habitats and their interactions with each other and the environment

Biogeochemical cycling: the process of nutrient cycling with help of microbes such as carbon fixation, nitrogen fixation and sulfur cycle etc.

Bioremediation: using microbes we remove or degrade the pollution in air, water and soil.

Environmental health: using microbes to find the quality of environment e.g. using microbes to identify fecal contamination in water.

Ecology: microbes involve in decomposition, nutrient cycling and food webs.

Importance of Environmental Microbiology

Environmental microbiology is an important field of study because it helps us to understand the role of microorganisms in the environment.

Some of the key areas of research in environmental microbiology include:

  • The role of microorganisms in climate change
  • The use of microorganisms for bioremediation
  • The impact of pollution on microbial communities
  • The development of new methods for studying microorganisms in the environment.

Types of ecosystems

Terrestrial Ecosystems (Land-Based)

Forest Ecosystems: Dominated by trees and other woody vegetation, forests are incredibly diverse and vital for carbon storage and oxygen production.
  • Tropical rainforest: Hot humid and has the richest biodiversity of earth.
  • Temperate rainforest: It consists of moderate rainfall and different seasons.
  • Boreal Forests (Taiga): cold and coniferous trees grow in high altitude areas.
Grassland Ecosystems: Characterized by grasses as the dominant vegetation.
  • Savannas: It consists of shrubs and scattered lands.
  • Temperate Grasslands (Prairies, Steppes): It experience hot and cold environments with less rainfall.
Desert Ecosystems: Extremely dry with sparse vegetation and specialized adaptations in plants and animals to conserve water.

Tundra Ecosystems: Cold, treeless regions with permafrost (permanently frozen soil).

  • Arctic Tundra: It is found in high altitude areas where low growing season and less plants grow.
  • Alpine Tundra: It is similar to Artic tundra grows in high altitude areas.
 Aquatic Ecosystems (Water-Based)

Freshwater Ecosystems: Characterized by low salt concentration.

  • Lentic: It consists of still water bodies like lakes, ponds etc.
  • Lotic: It consists of flowing waters such as rivers, streams etc.
Marine Ecosystems: High salt concentration.

  • Oceans: high salt concentrations that covers most of space on earth.
  • Coral Reefs: Diverse and vibrant ecosystems formed by coral polyps in warm, shallow waters.
  • Estuaries: Where freshwater rivers meet the ocean, creating a unique mix of salinity and high productivity.

Lithosphere

  • Physical Support: It acts as physical support for soil formation which also supports plant growth.
  • Nutrient Cycling: The weathering down of rocks due to time, breaks the mineral and nutrient which spreads in soil helps for plant growth.
  • Water Storage and Movement: It stores the water underground and filters the underground water.
  • Habitat Provision: It consists of different terrains that supports various plants and animals.

Hydrosphere

  • Life's Foundation: The fundamental of all life forms, the major component for cell and for the biological process that takes place.
  • Habitat Provision: From algae to whale it supports the life forms in water. Aquatic ecosystems, both freshwater and marine, are vital for global biodiversity.
    • Climate Regulation: The water has heat storing capacity which stores large amount and heat and stabilizes the environment.
    • Nutrient Transport: It transports minerals and organic matter through the soil, rivers, and oceans, making them available to plants and animals.

Atmosphere

  • Life sustaining gases: It has the essential gases for life like oxygen, carbon etc.
  • Climate regulation:  The atmosphere traps the heat and regulate the climate of earth.
  • Protection: The atmosphere protects living beings from harmful UV radiations.
  • weather patterns: The atmosphere is responsible for weather patterns include wind temperature variations.

Energy flow

The flow contains
  1. Primary source-sunlight.
  2. Producer(autotrophs)-plants.
  3. Consumers.
  4. Decomposers.

10% rule:

Only 10% of energy is transferred to next level, the rest of energy is lost as heat by metabolic process.

Food chain

It is a linear sequence in which the energy is transferred from one organism to another organisms.
  • Producer.
  • Consumer.
In consumer there are several types that include
  1. Primary
  2. secondary.
  3. Tertiary.
  4. Quaternary

Food web

The interconnected food chains make up the food web.

Features of food web

Complexity: Many different species are involved in this process.
Stability: The food web will be stable even if one species is removed from the process.

Examples:

Producer: Trees.
Primary consumer: Deer.
Secondary consumer: Foxes.
Tertiary: Bears.





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DOWNSTREAM PROCESS

 Introduction of downstream processing: Downstream processing (DSP) refers to the series of operations that occur after the production or synthesis of a desired product in a biological system (like a cell culture or fermentation broth). Importance of downstream process: Product Quality: DSP removes impurities like cell debris, proteins, DNA, endotoxins, and other contaminants that could affect the safety and efficacy of the final product. Regulatory Compliance: Stringent regulatory standards require biopharmaceuticals and other biological products to be highly pure and well-characterized. DSP plays a critical role in meeting these standards. Commercialization: DSP transforms a crude mixture into a marketable product with the desired purity, concentration, and formulation.  Steps in process: Solid-Liquid Separation. Product Isolation. Product Purification. Polishing. Formulation. Principles of downstream process: Downstream processing (DSP) is governed by several key prin...
Post a Comment
Read more

SOIL MICROBIOLOGY

 Microbes in cell Microbes: Microbes are tiny living organisms that are too small to see by our naked eye. There are diverse groups of microbes which are Bacteria:  single celled organism with no nucleus can be found anywhere from soil to human digestive system. Archaea:  These are similar to bacteria but with different genetic and biochemical pathway. Many archaea can survive and live in extreme conditions. Fungi: Can be single or multicellular plays a major role as decomposers in soil and used in food productions. Protists: A group of eukaryotes with a nucleus it includes algae. Viruses: Nonliving organism under microbes which replicates inside the host cells. Microbe interaction with cell Beneficial: Both gets benefited in this relationship like mutualism. Harmful: One gets harmed or killed in this process, while other gets benefitted in this. Neutral: No harm or benefit to both cell and microbes in it. Importance of microbes in cell Nutrient Cycling: Microbes break d...
Post a Comment
Read more

TECHNIQUES TO SEPERATE AND CHARACTERS OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS

 Separation techniques: Thin layer chromatography. Gas chromatography. High performance liquid chromatography. Column chromatography. Other techniques: Fractional distillation. Crystallization. solvent Partitioning. Thin layer chromatography: Preparation: A thin layer of adsorbent material (like silica gel) is coated onto a solid support (usually glass, plastic, or aluminum). Spotting: A small amount of the mixture you want to separate is applied as a spot near the bottom of the TLC plate. Development: The TLC plate is placed in a container with a solvent (or a mixture of solvents) called the mobile phase. The solvent travels up the plate by capillary action. Separation: As the solvent moves, it carries the components of the mixture with it.   Visualization: Once the solvent has traveled a certain distance, the plate is removed from the container. The separated compounds may be visible, or they may need to be visualized using UV light, chemical sprays, or other metho...
Post a Comment
Read more