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Related Concept Videos

Methods to Assess Microbial Communities01:19

Methods to Assess Microbial Communities

Microbial communities, comprising bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotic microorganisms, inhabit diverse ecosystems and play crucial roles in environmental and biological processes. Their diversity is defined by three main parameters: species richness (the number of distinct species), species abundance (the relative quantity of each species), and species evenness (how uniformly individual species are distributed in various locations). These factors together shape the structure and ecological balance...
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Methods to Assess Microbial Populations

Assessing microbial populations is crucial for understanding microbial roles in health, ecology, and industry. Various complementary techniques—both culture-based and molecular—enable detailed analysis of microbial abundance, diversity, and function.Viable Plate CountThe viable plate count is a traditional culture-based method used to estimate the number of living microbes in a sample. After serial dilution, the sample is spread onto nutrient agar plates. Each viable cell forms a visible...
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Marine Microbial Ecology

Marine microbial ecosystems are shaped by distinct physicochemical limits, including high salinity, low nutrient availability, and fluctuating oxygen levels. These conditions favor smaller microbial cell sizes, which maximize their surface-to-volume ratio for efficient nutrient uptake.Microbial activity and community composition are closely linked to biogeochemical cycles, particularly in dynamic environments like estuaries, where halotolerant microbes thrive in response to variable salinity...
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Deep Sea Microbial Ecology

The deep ocean and its underlying sediments represent vast, largely unexplored microbial habitats that extend far beyond the sunlit photic zone. The photic (euphotic) zone typically spans the upper ~100–200 meters of pelagic waters in the open ocean, but its depth varies geographically and seasonally, where sufficient light supports photosynthetic life. Below this lies the deep sea, spanning roughly 1000–6000 meters (bathypelagic to abyssal zones), with deeper hadal trenches extending beyond...
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Microbial Corrosion

Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) is a significant form of material degradation caused by the metabolic activities of microorganisms. This phenomenon poses substantial challenges across various industries, including oil and gas, maritime, and water treatment sectors.MIC occurs when microorganisms, such as bacteria, archaea, and fungi, colonize metal surfaces, forming biofilms that alter the local electrochemical environment. These biofilms can lead to the production of corrosive...
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Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities
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Published on: January 6, 2023

Assessing coral reefs on a Pacific-wide scale using the microbialization score.

Tracey McDole1, James Nulton, Katie L Barott

  • 1Biology Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, United States of America. tsmcdole@yahoo.com

Plos One
|September 13, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Coral reefs are declining due to human activities shifting energy to microbes. A new "microbialization score" effectively measures this human impact on reef health.

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Area of Science:

  • Marine biology
  • Ecosystem dynamics
  • Environmental science

Background:

  • Coral reefs worldwide are declining, with the exact mechanisms remaining unclear.
  • Increased microbial and viral loads, including pathogens, are potential unifying factors in reef decline.
  • The 'microbialization' of coral reefs suggests a shift in ecosystem energy allocation towards microbes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the hypothesis that human activities alter reef energy budgets by shifting metabolic energy allocation between microbes and macrobes.
  • To develop and validate a metric for assessing reef health and human impact on a regional scale.

Main Methods:

  • Calculated basal metabolic rates for fish and microbial communities across 99 sites in the Pacific Ocean.
  • Utilized established scaling relationships to predict metabolic rates.
  • Derived the 'microbialization score' representing the microbial proportion of combined metabolic rates.

Main Results:

  • A strong positive correlation was found between microbialization scores and human impact.
  • Microbialization scores did not significantly correlate with ocean net primary production, chlorophyll-a, or total metabolic rate.
  • Findings support the hypothesis of human-driven energy shifts from macrobes to microbes.

Conclusions:

  • The microbialization score is a robust metric for assessing human impact on coral reef systems.
  • Human activities significantly influence the energy dynamics within coral reef ecosystems.
  • Understanding microbialization is key to addressing coral reef decline irrespective of oceanographic conditions.