Read more
The substantial and impressive changes in microbial ecology can scarcely be chronicled in a meaningful fashion, and a review series such as Advances in Microbial Ecology can thus not do justice to the numerous studies that have been published in recent years. On the other hand, the mere existence of this series bears testimony to the many and diverse activities. The growing concern with microbial communities and processes in natural ecosystems is not restricted to scientists in one region and is not limited to particular groups of organisms or to individual theoretical or applied problems. The recent and successful international symposium on microbial ecology held in New Zealand-sponsored in part by the International Commission on Microbial Ecology, as is the Advances-and the general microbiology and ecology conferences and congresses have included reports from investigators from all corners of the globe and have explored both new and traditional areas, agricultural and public health problems, individual species and complex communities, and heterotrophs and autotrophs as well as ecosystem models relying on mathematical concepts and environmental processes needing sophisticated chemistry for their definition. The reviews in the present volume thus can offer only a minute sampling of the multitude of topics being actively explored at the present time. Two of the reviews focus attention on biogeochemical cycles regulated by microorganisms, in particular the way these organisms contribute to or control the levels and identities of chemical substances in the atmosphere. The chapter by Y. Dommergues, L. W. Belser, and E. L.
List of contents
1 Principal-Components and Factor Analysis for the Description of Microbial Populations.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Adansonian Classification and Microbiology.- 3. Methods for Collecting Primary Data.- 4. Factor Analysis for Describing Microbial Populations.- 5. Applications of Factor Analysis in Environmental Microbiology.- 6. Conclusions and Perspectives.- References.- 2 Limiting Factors for Microbial Growth and Activity in Soil.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Soil Habitat.- 3. Methodology for Study of Limiting Factors in Soil.- 4. Major Limiting Factors.- 5. Factors Limiting Growth and Activity for Selected Processes.- 6. Modeling Microbial Growth and Activity in Soil.- References.- 3 Eco-Physiological Aspects of Microbial Growth in Aerobic Nutrient-Limited Environments.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Mechanisms of Adaptation to Low-Nutrient Environments.- 3. Bioenergetic Considerations.- 4. Transient-State Phenomena: Microbial Reactivity.- 5. Conclusions.- References.- 4 Role of Microorganisms in the Atmospheric Sulfur Cycle.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Microbial Production of Volatile Sulfur Compounds.- 3. Microbial Sources of Atmospheric Sulfur.- 4. Microbial Sinks of Atmospheric Sulfur.- 5. Conclusions.- References.- 5 Microbiological Aspects of Regulating the Carbon Monoxide Content in the Earth's Atmosphere.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Carbon Monoxide in the Atmosphere.- 3. Abiogenic Processes in the CO Cycle.- 4. Role of Biological Agencies in Forming and Binding CO.- 5. Carboxydobacteria.- 6. Comparative Role of Different Factors in the CO Cycle.- References.- 6 Microbial Ecology of the Human Skin.- 1. The Environment.- 2. Cutaneous Microflora.- 3. Microbes in Their Habitat.- References.
