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Full-Text Articles in Microbiology
Effects Of Mass Death On Community Structure And Ecosystem Function, Abby Kimpton Jones
Effects Of Mass Death On Community Structure And Ecosystem Function, Abby Kimpton Jones
Theses and Dissertations
Death and decomposition are natural processes that are generally well-understood. However, large events of death, such as mass mortality events (MMEs) are increasing in frequency and their impacts on the ecosystem are largely unknown. These events may have both bottom-up effects from increased nutrient input as well as top-down effects from loss of an ecological functional group by the affected population. Different functional MMEs may result in different top-down effects, creating cascading effects. In Chapter 1, I test the hypothesis that scavenger and herbivore simulated MMEs generate novel bottom-up and top-down effects. Results indicate that MMEs have a significant effect …
Discovering Novel Polyextremotolerant Fungi, And Determining Their Ecological Role Within The Biological Soil Crust Consortium, Erin Carr
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The ecological niche of polyextremotolerant fungi within oligotrophic ecosystems such as biological soil crusts has not yet been determined. These fungi persist in locations where nutrients are depleted while simultaneously surrounded by autotrophic microbes such as algae and cyanobacteria. Yet it has not been shown that they are engaging in any exchange of nutrients the way lichens do. However, there is seemingly no other way for these fungi to obtain vital nutrients, such as carbon or nitrogen, other than from these microbes. Here we have isolated polyextremotolerant fungi from cold desert biological soil crusts which are a microbial biofilm that …
Microbial Community And Soil Responses To Land Management Practices In Remnant And Restored Tallgrass Prairies, Desirae Marie Klimek
Microbial Community And Soil Responses To Land Management Practices In Remnant And Restored Tallgrass Prairies, Desirae Marie Klimek
Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations
Critical ecosystem functions, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, are driven by microbial communities within soil. As such, it is important to examine the effect of restoration practices, such as the presence of native grazers and prescribed burning, on these microbes and the soil they inhabit. The Nachusa Grasslands provides a chronosequence of restored tallgrass prairies ranging in restoration age from 5 to 33 years, as well as remnant prairies, and agricultural fields. These sites were sampled seasonally from 2013-2020 and microbial ribosomal RNA genes were surveyed to characterize soil microbial communities and assess how common restoration practices affect these …
Microbial Community Analysis: Biofilm Inhibition & Algae Associated Community Structure, Michelle V. Fong
Microbial Community Analysis: Biofilm Inhibition & Algae Associated Community Structure, Michelle V. Fong
University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations
Natural products chemistry is the pursuit of bioactive small molecules from living organisms. These can be classified as primary metabolites if they are essential to survival, and secondary metabolites if they are accessory, playing a role in communication, defense, recruitment, etc.. Natural products have made a significant contribution to society – of 1,881 FDA-approved drugs from 1981 to 2019, 4% were pure natural products, 19% were natural products derived, and 3% were synthetic drugs with a natural products pharmacophore targeting a wide range of diseases and infections (Newman & Cragg, 2020). Pharmacophores are structural components of drugs that are responsible …