Microorganisms play a vital role in heavy metal contaminated soil and wastewater by the mechanisms of biosorption. In this study, heavy metal resistant bacteria were isolated from the effluent samples of an electroplating industry and the biosorption of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). These isolates were characterized to evaluate their applicability for heavy metal removal from industr...

The recalcitrance of woody biomass, particularly its lignin component, hinders its sustainable transformation to fuels and biomaterials. Although the recent discovery of several bacterial ligninases promises the development of novel biocatalysts, these enzymes have largely been characterized using model substrates: direct evidence for their action on biomass is lacking. Herein, we report the de...

1. Decomposition of red maple (Acer rubrum) and rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) leaves and activity of associated microorganisms were compared in two reaches of a headwater stream in Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, NC, U.S.A. The downstream reach was enriched with ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate whereas the upstream reach was not altered. 2. Decomposition rate, microbial respiration, fungal...

More than half of the earth's terrestrial surface currently experiences seasonal snow cover and soil frost. Winter compositional and functional investigations in soil microbial community are frequently conducted in alpine tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. However, little information on winter microbial biogeochemistry is known from seasonally snow-covered temperate ecosystems. As decomposer ...

To understand effects of soil microbes on soil biochemistry in alpine grassland ecosystems under environmental changes, we explored relationships between soil microbial diversity and soil total nitrogen, organic carbon, available nitrogen and phosphorus, soil microbial biomass and soil enzyme activities in alpine meadow, alpine steppe and cultivated grassland on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau unde...

Nanomaterials are widely used in health and biomedical applications, however, only a few studies investigate their toxic effects.  The present report signifies a contribution to the study of the toxic effects of silver nanoparticles on   E. coli cells, which is a model organism of anthropogenic pollution. The toxicity of nanoparticles depends on their chemical and surface properties, shape and ...

Aquatic ecosystems are fuelled by biogeochemical inputs from surrounding lands and within-lake primary production. Disturbances that change these inputs may affect how aquatic ecosystems function and deliver services vital to humans. Here we test, using a forest cover gradient across eight separate catchments, whether disturbances that remove terrestrial biomass lower organic matter inputs into...

We have synthesized the information on marine and lirnnetic bacterial biomass carbon (BOC) and phytoplankton biomass carbon (PhytoC) to examine the relationships between these major biotic carbon pools. On the basis of 6 limnetic and 6 marine studies we found a good similarity for the correlations of BOC vs PhytoC in both systems although the slope was substantially lower than for sim~lar corre...

Studies in microbial ecology require accurate measures of cell number and biomass. Although epifluorescence microscopy is an accepted and dependable method for determining cell numbers, current methods of converting biovolume to biomass are error prone, tedious, and labor-intensive. This paper describes a technique with sedimentation field-flow fractionation to enumerate bacteria and determine ...

The catabolic adaptability demonstrated by microorganisms is important in the bioremediation of polluted environments. 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid/α-ketoglutarate dioxygenase is the first enzyme in the catabolic pathway for the 2,4dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). In the present study, dioxygenase enzymes were inducible and the serial adaptation of four studied bacterial isolates steadily ...