Unit 3 micro terms

Ecosystem

All organisms and abiotic factors in a particular environment

Habitats

The portion of an ecosystem where a community could reside

Population

A group of microorganisms of the same species that reside in the same place at the same time. May be descended fro a single cell.

Community

Populations living in association with other populations

Niche

And organism’s role in the community. How it responds to the distribution of resources and competitors and how it in turn alters those same factors.

Fundamental niche

Full range of environmental conditions under which an organism can exist (where they can grow)

Realized or prime niche

Conditions (biotic and abiotic) in which an organism is most successful (where they do grow)

No niche overlap (grown separately)

When grown alone under a particular set of environmental conditions. Each of two similar species of paramecium thrive

Competitve exclusion (grown together)

One species uses resources more efficiently and drives other species to extinction.

Resource partitioning (Grown together)

Species alter their use of niche and divide resources

What determines how microbes grow in nature?

Resources (C, N, macronutrients, micronutrients, and electron acceptors + receptors) and conditions (temp, water/wetness, pH, oxygen, light, and osmotic conditions)

Symbiosis

Any relationship in which two species live closely together

Mutuatlism

A type of symbiosis in which both benefit

Commensalism

One organisms benefits, the other is not affected

Parasitism

One organism benefits, the other is harmed

Alpha diversity

The assession of species richness, evenness, and a combination of both within a community

Beta diversity

Comparison of multiple communities through presence or absence, phylogenetic relationship, and abundance of different species

Microbial mats

Millimetes to centimeters, stratified vertically into distinct layers

Mineral soils

Derived from rock weathering and other inorganic materials

Organic soils

Derived from sedimentation in bogs and marshes

Phytoplankton

Oxygenic phototrophs suspended freely in water; include algae and cyanobacteria

Benthic

Species that are attached to the bottom or sides of a lake or stream (can also be photosynthesizing, there are just algae) can be microbial or multicellular.

Epilimnion

Warmer, less dense surface water

Hypolimnion

Cooler, denser water at the bottom of a lake or pond

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs)

Regions or oxygen-depleted waters at intermediate depths (below where water and air are well-mixed)

Copiotrophs

Organisms that live in nutrient rich conditions, such as coastal areas

Oligotrophs

Organims that live in nutrient poor conditions, such as the open ocean

Biogeochemistry

The study of biologically mediated chemical transformations

Hygiene hypothesis

More exposure to germs = fewer negative immune system responses

Chlorochromatium Aggregatum

Green sulfur bacteria (epibionts) + flagellated rod-shaped bacterium

Methanotrophic consortia

Methan-oxidizing (methanotrophic) Archaea + sulfate-reducing bacteria

Mycorrhizae

Mutualistic associations of plant roots and fungi

Extomycorrhizae

Mycorrhizae that remain outside the plant roots found primarily in forest trees, particularly boreal and temperate forests

Endomycorrhizae

Fungal myecellum becomes deeply embedded within the root tissue. Found in >80% of terrestrial plant species, but cannot be cultures in pure culture

Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Bacteria forms a parasitic symbiosis with plants, causing crown gall disease

Crown galls

Plant tumores induced by A. tumefaciens cells harboring a large plasmid, the Ti (tumor induction) plasmid

Primary symbionts

Required for the host to reproduce. Typically live in specialized cells called bacteriocytes

Secondary symbionts

Not required for reproduction, not always present in every individual, can invade different cells and live extracellulary, must provide a benefit (nutritional, protective)

Microbiome

A community of microbes characteristic of a specific environment

Probiotics

Live organisms that confer a health benefit to the host

Prebiotics

Typically carbohydrates that are indigestible by human hosts but provide nutrition for fermentative gut bacteria

Synbiotics

Probiotic microbes + the probiotics that support them