Chapter 1: Beginnings and the road forward

• Ecosystem - a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
• Abiotic Components - include non-living or physiochemical factors like air, soil, water and the basic compounds and elements in the environment.
• Biotic Components - consists of living organisms in the environment.
• Level of Biological Organization

  A) Community

  B) Population

  C) Organism

  D) Organ

  E) tissue

  F) cell

  G) Macromolecule

  H) Microbial Community

  I) microbial population

  J) microcolony

  K) colony

  L) prokaryotic cell

  M) macromolecule

  
• Species Richness- total number of different species present. It may also expressed in molecular terms by the diversity of phylotypes observed in a given community.
• Species abundance- is the proportion of each species in the community.
• The microbial species richness and abundance of a community depends on:

  • environmental conditions
  • kinds and amounts of nutrients available in the habitat
• Microorganisms play a key role in ecosystem structure.
• Microbial Ecology - is the study of microbial relationship with other organisms and also with nonliving environments.
• Environmental microbiology- relates primarily to all over microbial processes that occur in a soil, water or food, as examples.
• Label

  A) Identify Microbial Species

  B) Distribution

  C) Specific activity

  D) Environmental variables that dictates abundance

  E) evolutionary relationships

  
• Roots

  A) Antonie Van Leeuwenhok

  B) Otto Friedrich muller

  C) Bartholomeo Bizio

  D) 1837

  E) Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg

  F) Friedrich traugott kutzing

  G) Mazimilian Perty

  H) Ernst Haeckel

  I) Matrinus W. Beijerinck

  
• Roots 2

  A) Sergus N. Wompgradsky

  B) L. Hiltner

  C) Sigurd Orla-Jensen

  
• Phylogenetic Tree- a diagram that depicts the lines of evolutionary descent of different species, organisms, or genes from a common ancestor.
• 3 main levels within an ecosystem

  • producer
  • consumer
  • decomposer
• Primary Producers- Convert CO2 to organic material
• Consumers- heterotrophs; utilize organic material created by producers
• Decomposers- digest leftovers of producers and consumers
• Detritus- fresh or partially decomposed organic matter.
• Microorganisms in Mature Ecosystem

  • Microorganisms and microenvironment
  • Terrestrial Environments
  • Freshwater
  • Marine Environments
• Soil Aggregate- composed of mineral and organic components, showing that localization of soil microbes.
• Rhizosphere- is the soil region in close contact with plant roots.
• Neutralism- two different species of microorganisms occupy the same environment without affecting each other.
• Commensalism- unidirectional relationship between two populations in which one benefits and the other is neither harmed nor benefited.
• Synergism- both populations benefits from the relationship, but the relationship is not necessary for the survival of either population.
• Mutualism- Both organisms benefit from the relationship. Association is obligatory.
• Competition - (+,-) when 2 populations use the same resource like space, limiting nutrients or light. Other will be eliminated.
• Ammensalism - (+/-,-) when one microbial population produces a substance that is inhibitory to other population.
• Parasitism - (+,-) when one population is adversely affected by the other.
• Parasites - organisms which eventually kill one population.
• Parasites may be ectoparasites or endoparasites.
• Bacteriophage - parasites on a range of hosts like bacteria.
• Phycophage - infects seaweed or algae
• Mycophage - infects fungi
• Predation - (+,-) when food is primarily obtained by killing and consuming animals.