Microbial Diversity

Paper Summary:

The paper reviews past and present literature on microbial diversity, bio-geochemistry and how they are interrelated. The paper provides a short overview on diversity and the aquatic ecosystem and reviews some of the new techniques in measuring microbial diversity as well as some of the disadvantages of these techniques. The paper discusses the biogeochemical processes and presents studies that link diversity to the overall functioning of the system.

Outline:
Introduction
Biodiversity
Aquatic Ecosystem
Measurement of Microbial Diversity
Trophic Interactions in Aquatic Systems
Biogeochemical Cycling
Diversity and Aquatic System Functioning

From the Paper:

"Although microorganisms are barely visible in the aquatic system, they play a very important role in the processes occurring in the system be it in the food web or in nutrient cycling of the system, also called biogeochemical cycle. According to Kiorboe (1993), the majority of the biological activity in pelagic systems are performed by microorganisms smaller than 100 m. Larger organisms, on the other hand, play a very minor role in the nutrient and energy cycling of the system."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Austin B. 1988. Marine Microbiology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 222 p.
• Azam F, Fenchel T, Field JG, Gray JS, Meyer-Reil LA, Thingstad F. 1983. The ecological role of water-column microbes in the sea. Marine Ecology-Progressive Series 10:257-263.
• Danovaro R, Luna GM, Dell'Anno A, Pietrangeli B. 2006. Comparison of two fingerprinting techniques, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, for determination of bacterial diversity in aquatic environments. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 72: 5982-5989.
• Dunbar J, Ticknor LO, Kuske CR. 2001. Phylogenetic specificity and reproducibility and new method for analysis of terminal restriction fragment profiles of 16S rRNA genes from bacterial communities. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 67:190-197.
• Handelsmann J. 2004. Metagenomics: application of genomics to uncultured microorganisms. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Review 68:669-685.

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