Microbial mat communities consist of dense populations of microorganisms embedded in exopolymers and/or biomineralized solid phases, and are often found in mm-cm thick assemblages, which can be stratified due to environmental gradients such as light, oxygen or sulfide. Microbial mat communities are commonly observed under extreme environmental conditions, deriving energy primarily from light and/or reduced chemicals to drive autotrophic fixation of carbon dioxide. Microbial mat ecosystems are regarded as living analogues of primordial systems on Earth, and they often form perennial structures with conspicuous stratifications of microbial populations that can be studied in situ under stable conditions for many years. Consequently, microbial mat communities are ideal natural laboratories and represent excellent model systems for studying microbial community structure and function, microbial dynamics and interactions, and discovery of new microorganisms with novel metabolic pathways potentially useful in future industrial and/or medical applications. Due to their relative simplicity and organization, microbial mat communities are often excellent testing grounds for new technologies in microbiology including micro-sensor analysis, stable isotope methodology and modern genomics. Integrative studies of microbial mat communities that combine modern biogeochemical and molecular biological methods with traditional microbiology, macro-ecological approaches, and community network modeling will provide new and detailed insights regarding the systems biology of microbial mats and the complex interplay among individual populations and their physicochemical environment. These processes ultimately control the biogeochemical cycling of energy and/or nutrients in microbial systems. Similarities in microbial community function across different types of communities from highly disparate environments may provide a deeper basis for understanding microbial community dynamics and the ecological role of specific microbial populations. Approaches and concepts developed in highly-constrained, relatively stable natural communities may also provide insights useful for studying and understanding more complex microbial communities.
... Director, Michigan DOT ADIB K. KANAFANI, Cahill Professor of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley HERBERT S. LEVINSON, Principal, Herbert S. Levinson Transportation Consultant, New Haven, CT SUE MCNEIL, Professor, ...
Lambin EF, Meyfroidt P,Rueda X, Blackman A, Börner J, Cerutti PO, Dietsch T, Jungmann L, Lamarque P, Lister J, et al. 2014. Effectiveness and synergies of policy instruments for land use governance in tropical regions.
This report seeks to promote discussion of the way the Air Force develops its weapon systems, manages its support resources, and conducts its wartime logistics operations.
A tutorial and reference to Java-based APIs for application software development covers RMI, IDL, JDBC, JNDI, and Java Servlets.
Collins, S., Osborne, J., Ratcliffe, M., Millar, R. and Duschl, R. (2001) 'What “ideas about science” should be taught in school science? A Delphi study of the expert community'. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American ...
... Washington, DC CYNTHIA L. QUARTERMAN, Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S.DOT PETER M. ROGOFF, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, U.S.DOT DAVID L. STRICKLAND, Administrator, ...
ROS were long regarded as unwanted and toxic by-products of physiological metabolism. However, ROS are now recognized as central players in the complex signaling network of cells.
charles WriGht, known always as Reg, was born on 10 July 1905at Central Castra, Tasmania, one of ten children of John Forsyth Wright, a farmer, and his wife, Emma Maria, née Lewis. Reg's brother, also John Forsyth Wright, ...
Management of carbohydrate resources appears to be one critical aspect in the occupation of rainforests by hunter-gatherer peoples (Sponsel et al. 1996). Bailey and Peacock (1988) hypothesized that energy resources in general, ...
ASM/TMS Fall meeting on 'Applications of thermodynamics in the synthesis and processing of materials, Rosemont, IL, USA, 1994, pp. 371–384. [8] Odette, G. R., Liu, C. L., and Wirth, B. D., Microstructure Evolution During Irradiation, ...