The importance of microbial activity to ecosystem function in aquatic ecosystems is well established, but microbial diversity has been less frequently addressed. This review and synthesis of 100s of published studies on stream microbial diversity shows that factors known to drive ecosystem processes, such as nutrient availability, hydrology, metal contamination, contrasting land-use and tempera...

Changes in surface land use may threaten groundwater quality and ecosystem integrity, particularly in shallow aquifers where links between groundwater and surface activities are most intimate. In this study we examine the response of groundwater ecosystem to agricultural land uses in the shallow alluvial aquifer of the Gwydir River valley, New South Wales, Australia. We compared groundwater qua...

The transformation of inorganic iodine (I(-) and IO(3)(-)) incubated in soils with varying amounts of organic matter (Andosols from the surface layer of an upland field and forest, as well as Acrisols from surface and subsurface layers of an upland field) was investigated by using the iodine K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES). After 60d of reaction, both I(-) and IO(3)(-) were ...

Surfactants are amphipathic compounds having both lipophilic and hydrophilic structural moieties in its molecule. They are mostly produced on microbial surfaces or excreted extracellular hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties. Due to such nature, solubility of hydrophilic molecules is increased alongwith reductions in surface and interfacial tensions at the oil/ water interface [1]. Surfactants a...