Dung beetles are described as key ecosystem service providers. Because of ecosystem benefits from... more Dung beetles are described as key ecosystem service providers. Because of ecosystem benefits from their activity, approval has been granted to import dung-burying beetles for release into pasture systems in New Zealand. Concerns remain, however, about the impact of dung beetle tunnelling and burying activity on the leaching of contaminants through soil. To assess the quality of water leaching from soil cores containing dung beetles, a trial was conducted using 12 intact Allophanic soil core lysimeters under in situ soil moisture and temperature regimes. Four lysimeters received dung and beetles (Geotrupes spiniger and Onthophagus taurus), four received dung and no beetles and four (controls) received no dung and no beetles. The quality of water was assessed by monitoring leachate samples for Escherichia coli and total N and P for 6 months. Key findings of the study were that concentrations of E. coli, N and P leaching through the lysimeters treated with dung beetles were not signifi...
We discuss the roles of microbes in the ecosystem services provided by soils to humans. The diver... more We discuss the roles of microbes in the ecosystem services provided by soils to humans. The diversity of microbes in soil is enormous and they drive many soil services. We examine the functional, metabolic, and phylogenetic diversity of soil bacteria, archaea, and fungi. The roles of these soil microbes are highlighted in the cycling of major biological elements (C, N, P), in the recycling of wastes, and the detoxifi cation of environmental pollutants. Microbes play a pivotal role in the cycling of nitrogen; they exclusively mediate nitrogen fi xation, denitrifi cation, and nitrifi cation. We also discuss recent theoretical advances in understanding of ecosystem processes that were made possible through explicit consideration of the roles of soil microbes. Global knowledge of soil microbial diver- sity and functioning is increasing rapidly, but knowledge of New Zealand's soil microbial resources is sparse, despite their importance in the provisioning and regulating services prov...
Land application of animal waste can result in bacterial contamination of shallow groundwater and... more Land application of animal waste can result in bacterial contamination of shallow groundwater and/or waterways. Using 500-mm-diameter barrel lysimeters, we investigated the potential for bacterial indicators to leach through 4 New Zealand soils treated with dairy shed effluent (DSE). DSE was applied to soil lysimeters containing poorly drained Gley Soils (Te Kowhai and Netherton) and well-drained Allophanic (Waihou) and Pumice Soils (Atiamuri) at 50 mm/h, a typical field application rate used by farmers. Simulated rainfall was applied continuously at a rate of 5–10 mm/h, and leachate collected at a depth of 700 or 750 mm was analysed for faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and faecal enterococci. Bacterial indicators of faecal contamination readily moved through the Te Kowhai and Netherton soils, but not the Waihou and Atiamuri soils. Differential microbial movement was attributed to differences in soil structure. The poorly drained soils have coarse subsoil structures with macropor...
Understanding the relationship between soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is critical to... more Understanding the relationship between soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is critical to predicting and monitoring the effects of ecosystem changes on important soil processes. However, most of Earth's soils are too biologically diverse to identify each species present and determine their functional role in food webs. The soil ecosystems of Victoria Land (VL) Antarctica are functionally and biotically simple, and serve as in situ models for determining the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem processes. For a few VL taxa (microarthropods, nematodes, algae, mosses and lichens), species diversity has been intensively assessed in highly localized habitats, but little is known of how community assemblages vary across broader spatial scales, or across latitudinal and environmental gradients. The composition of tardigrade, rotifer, protist, fungal and prokaryote communities is emerging. The latter groups are the least studied, but potentially the most diverse. Endemism is highest for microarthropods and nematodes, less so for tardigrades and rotifers, and apparently low for mosses, lichens, protists, fungi and prokaryotes. Much of what is known about VL diversity and distribution occurs in an evolutionary and ecological vacuum; links between taxa and functional role in ecosystems are poorly known and future studies must utilize phylogenetic information to infer patterns of community assembly, speciation, extinction, population processes and biogeography. However, a comprehensive compilation of all the species that participate in soil ecosystem processes, and their distribution across regional and landscape scales is immediately achievable in VL with the resources, tools, and expertise currently available. We suggest that the soil ecosystems of VL should play a major role in exploring the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and in monitoring the effects of environmental change on soil processes in real time and space.
Preface Editors Contributors Chapter 1: Microbiology of Antarctic Terrestrial Soils and Rocks Don... more Preface Editors Contributors Chapter 1: Microbiology of Antarctic Terrestrial Soils and Rocks Donald A. Cowan, Nuraan Khan, Caroline Heath, and Moola Mutondo Chapter 2: Archaeal Diversity in Antarctic Ecosystems Jackie Aislabie and John Bowman Chapter 3: Bacterial Biodiversity of Antarctica: Conventional Polyphasic and rRNA Approaches Sisinthy Shivaji and G. S. N. Reddy Chapter 4: L.I.F.E. in Antarctic Lakes Birgit Sattler and Michael C. Storrie-Lombardi Chapter 5: Psychrophilic and Psychrotolerant Microbial Extremophiles in Polar Environments Richard B. Hoover and Elena V. Pikuta Chapter 6: Cold Adaptation in Antarctic Biodegradative Microorganisms Asim K. Bej and Nazia Mojib Chapter 7: Possible Role of Bacteriophage-Mediated Horizontal Gene Transfer on Microbial Adaptation to Environmental Stressors in Polar Ecosystems Michael C. Storrie-Lombardi and Shannon J. Williamson Chapter 8: Sources of Organic Matter for the Archean Cryosphere Perry A. Gerakines and Michael C. Storrie-Lombardi Chapter 9: Response of Polar Soil Bacterial Communities to Fuel Spills Jackie Aislabie and Julia M. Foght Chapter 10: Microbial Degradation of Petroleum Compounds in Cold Marine Water and Ice Odd G. Brakstad, Andrew M. Booth, and Liv-Guri Faksness Chapter 11: Potential for Microbial Biodegradation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Polar Environments Angelina Lo Giudice, Vivia Bruni, and Luigi Michaud Chapter 12: Tolerance of Antarctic Soil Fungi to Hydrocarbons and Their Potential Role in Soil Bioremediation Kevin A. Hughes and Paul Bridge Chapter 13: Do Fertilizers Help in Effective Bioremediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Polar Soils? Daniel Delille, Emilien Pelletier, and Frederic Coulon Chapter 14: Bioremediation of Contaminated Sites in the Canadian Arctic: Monitoring Performance and the Effects of Biostimulation Using Molecular Methods Charles W. Greer Chapter 15: Occurrence, Distribution and Nature of Hydrocarbon-Degrading Genes in Biodegradative Microorganisms from the Antarctic Environment Adriana Philippi Luz, Emanuele Kuhn, and Vivian Helena Pellizari Chapter 16: Potential Use of Real-Time PCR to Assess Changes in the Microbial Population Structure and Function during Bioremediation of Polar Soils Shane M. Powell Chapter 17: Microbial Bioremediation in Polar Environments: Current Status and Future Directions Ronald M. Atlas Index
Enrichment cultures were obtained, after prolonged incubation on a shale oil as the sole source o... more Enrichment cultures were obtained, after prolonged incubation on a shale oil as the sole source of nitrogen, that selectively degraded nitriles. Capillary gas chromatographic analyses showed that the mixed microbial populations in the enrichments degraded the homologous series of aliphatic nitriles but not the aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, or heterocyclic-nitrogen compounds found in this oil. Time course studies showed that lighter nitriles were removed more rapidly than higher-molecular-weight nitriles. A Pseudomonas fluorescens strain isolated from an enrichment, which was able to completely utilize the individual nitriles undecyl cyanide and undecanenitrile as sole sources of carbon and nitrogen, was unable to attack stearonitrile when provided alone as the growth substrate. A P. aeruginosa strain, also isolated from one of the enrichments, used nitriles but not aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbons when the oil was used as a sole nitrogen source. However, when the ...
To understand more clearly the groundwater contamination potential of herbicides applied to New Z... more To understand more clearly the groundwater contamination potential of herbicides applied to New Zealand soils, experimental field plots were established on 2 different soil types: Himatangi, a sandy dune soil, and Kiripaka, a silty clay derived from basalt. A mix of triazine herbicides, containing atrazine, terbuthylazine, and hexazinone, was applied to the plots at 10 kg a.i./ha. At various times after application, soil was removed from the plots and analysed for residual levels of herbicides, in vitro rates of mineralisation of 14C-ring-labelled atrazine, and numbers of atrazine-degrading microbes. Atrazine and terbuthylazine were below detectable levels (<0.01 mg/kg) in Himatangi topsoil 18 months after pesticide application but still detectable in topsoil from the Kiripaka site. Hexazinone was detectable in topsoil from both soil plots 18 months after application. Atrazine adsorption isotherms were constructed for topsoil and subsoil from both plots, with estimated Kf values ...
Abstract Ornithogenic soils that form in penguin rook-eries contain high levels of organic carbon... more Abstract Ornithogenic soils that form in penguin rook-eries contain high levels of organic carbon and nitrogen. On Seabee Hook, Cape Hallett, Antartica, ornithogenic soil was contaminated with hydrocarbons following establish-ment of a scientific research station. In these soils ...
We have investigated the availability of phenanthrene, intercalated into a montmorillonite clay s... more We have investigated the availability of phenanthrene, intercalated into a montmorillonite clay saturated with tetradecyltrimethylammonium (TDTMA) cations, as a carbon and energy source to two bacterial species. When phenanthrene was provided in the ‘free’ form (i.e. in the absence of clay), the number of viable bacterial cells (Burkholderia sp.) increased from 2.7×106 at the beginning to 1.5×108 after 5 days
Dung beetles are described as key ecosystem service providers. Because of ecosystem benefits from... more Dung beetles are described as key ecosystem service providers. Because of ecosystem benefits from their activity, approval has been granted to import dung-burying beetles for release into pasture systems in New Zealand. Concerns remain, however, about the impact of dung beetle tunnelling and burying activity on the leaching of contaminants through soil. To assess the quality of water leaching from soil cores containing dung beetles, a trial was conducted using 12 intact Allophanic soil core lysimeters under in situ soil moisture and temperature regimes. Four lysimeters received dung and beetles (Geotrupes spiniger and Onthophagus taurus), four received dung and no beetles and four (controls) received no dung and no beetles. The quality of water was assessed by monitoring leachate samples for Escherichia coli and total N and P for 6 months. Key findings of the study were that concentrations of E. coli, N and P leaching through the lysimeters treated with dung beetles were not signifi...
We discuss the roles of microbes in the ecosystem services provided by soils to humans. The diver... more We discuss the roles of microbes in the ecosystem services provided by soils to humans. The diversity of microbes in soil is enormous and they drive many soil services. We examine the functional, metabolic, and phylogenetic diversity of soil bacteria, archaea, and fungi. The roles of these soil microbes are highlighted in the cycling of major biological elements (C, N, P), in the recycling of wastes, and the detoxifi cation of environmental pollutants. Microbes play a pivotal role in the cycling of nitrogen; they exclusively mediate nitrogen fi xation, denitrifi cation, and nitrifi cation. We also discuss recent theoretical advances in understanding of ecosystem processes that were made possible through explicit consideration of the roles of soil microbes. Global knowledge of soil microbial diver- sity and functioning is increasing rapidly, but knowledge of New Zealand's soil microbial resources is sparse, despite their importance in the provisioning and regulating services prov...
Land application of animal waste can result in bacterial contamination of shallow groundwater and... more Land application of animal waste can result in bacterial contamination of shallow groundwater and/or waterways. Using 500-mm-diameter barrel lysimeters, we investigated the potential for bacterial indicators to leach through 4 New Zealand soils treated with dairy shed effluent (DSE). DSE was applied to soil lysimeters containing poorly drained Gley Soils (Te Kowhai and Netherton) and well-drained Allophanic (Waihou) and Pumice Soils (Atiamuri) at 50 mm/h, a typical field application rate used by farmers. Simulated rainfall was applied continuously at a rate of 5–10 mm/h, and leachate collected at a depth of 700 or 750 mm was analysed for faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and faecal enterococci. Bacterial indicators of faecal contamination readily moved through the Te Kowhai and Netherton soils, but not the Waihou and Atiamuri soils. Differential microbial movement was attributed to differences in soil structure. The poorly drained soils have coarse subsoil structures with macropor...
Understanding the relationship between soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is critical to... more Understanding the relationship between soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is critical to predicting and monitoring the effects of ecosystem changes on important soil processes. However, most of Earth's soils are too biologically diverse to identify each species present and determine their functional role in food webs. The soil ecosystems of Victoria Land (VL) Antarctica are functionally and biotically simple, and serve as in situ models for determining the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem processes. For a few VL taxa (microarthropods, nematodes, algae, mosses and lichens), species diversity has been intensively assessed in highly localized habitats, but little is known of how community assemblages vary across broader spatial scales, or across latitudinal and environmental gradients. The composition of tardigrade, rotifer, protist, fungal and prokaryote communities is emerging. The latter groups are the least studied, but potentially the most diverse. Endemism is highest for microarthropods and nematodes, less so for tardigrades and rotifers, and apparently low for mosses, lichens, protists, fungi and prokaryotes. Much of what is known about VL diversity and distribution occurs in an evolutionary and ecological vacuum; links between taxa and functional role in ecosystems are poorly known and future studies must utilize phylogenetic information to infer patterns of community assembly, speciation, extinction, population processes and biogeography. However, a comprehensive compilation of all the species that participate in soil ecosystem processes, and their distribution across regional and landscape scales is immediately achievable in VL with the resources, tools, and expertise currently available. We suggest that the soil ecosystems of VL should play a major role in exploring the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and in monitoring the effects of environmental change on soil processes in real time and space.
Preface Editors Contributors Chapter 1: Microbiology of Antarctic Terrestrial Soils and Rocks Don... more Preface Editors Contributors Chapter 1: Microbiology of Antarctic Terrestrial Soils and Rocks Donald A. Cowan, Nuraan Khan, Caroline Heath, and Moola Mutondo Chapter 2: Archaeal Diversity in Antarctic Ecosystems Jackie Aislabie and John Bowman Chapter 3: Bacterial Biodiversity of Antarctica: Conventional Polyphasic and rRNA Approaches Sisinthy Shivaji and G. S. N. Reddy Chapter 4: L.I.F.E. in Antarctic Lakes Birgit Sattler and Michael C. Storrie-Lombardi Chapter 5: Psychrophilic and Psychrotolerant Microbial Extremophiles in Polar Environments Richard B. Hoover and Elena V. Pikuta Chapter 6: Cold Adaptation in Antarctic Biodegradative Microorganisms Asim K. Bej and Nazia Mojib Chapter 7: Possible Role of Bacteriophage-Mediated Horizontal Gene Transfer on Microbial Adaptation to Environmental Stressors in Polar Ecosystems Michael C. Storrie-Lombardi and Shannon J. Williamson Chapter 8: Sources of Organic Matter for the Archean Cryosphere Perry A. Gerakines and Michael C. Storrie-Lombardi Chapter 9: Response of Polar Soil Bacterial Communities to Fuel Spills Jackie Aislabie and Julia M. Foght Chapter 10: Microbial Degradation of Petroleum Compounds in Cold Marine Water and Ice Odd G. Brakstad, Andrew M. Booth, and Liv-Guri Faksness Chapter 11: Potential for Microbial Biodegradation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Polar Environments Angelina Lo Giudice, Vivia Bruni, and Luigi Michaud Chapter 12: Tolerance of Antarctic Soil Fungi to Hydrocarbons and Their Potential Role in Soil Bioremediation Kevin A. Hughes and Paul Bridge Chapter 13: Do Fertilizers Help in Effective Bioremediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Polar Soils? Daniel Delille, Emilien Pelletier, and Frederic Coulon Chapter 14: Bioremediation of Contaminated Sites in the Canadian Arctic: Monitoring Performance and the Effects of Biostimulation Using Molecular Methods Charles W. Greer Chapter 15: Occurrence, Distribution and Nature of Hydrocarbon-Degrading Genes in Biodegradative Microorganisms from the Antarctic Environment Adriana Philippi Luz, Emanuele Kuhn, and Vivian Helena Pellizari Chapter 16: Potential Use of Real-Time PCR to Assess Changes in the Microbial Population Structure and Function during Bioremediation of Polar Soils Shane M. Powell Chapter 17: Microbial Bioremediation in Polar Environments: Current Status and Future Directions Ronald M. Atlas Index
Enrichment cultures were obtained, after prolonged incubation on a shale oil as the sole source o... more Enrichment cultures were obtained, after prolonged incubation on a shale oil as the sole source of nitrogen, that selectively degraded nitriles. Capillary gas chromatographic analyses showed that the mixed microbial populations in the enrichments degraded the homologous series of aliphatic nitriles but not the aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, or heterocyclic-nitrogen compounds found in this oil. Time course studies showed that lighter nitriles were removed more rapidly than higher-molecular-weight nitriles. A Pseudomonas fluorescens strain isolated from an enrichment, which was able to completely utilize the individual nitriles undecyl cyanide and undecanenitrile as sole sources of carbon and nitrogen, was unable to attack stearonitrile when provided alone as the growth substrate. A P. aeruginosa strain, also isolated from one of the enrichments, used nitriles but not aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbons when the oil was used as a sole nitrogen source. However, when the ...
To understand more clearly the groundwater contamination potential of herbicides applied to New Z... more To understand more clearly the groundwater contamination potential of herbicides applied to New Zealand soils, experimental field plots were established on 2 different soil types: Himatangi, a sandy dune soil, and Kiripaka, a silty clay derived from basalt. A mix of triazine herbicides, containing atrazine, terbuthylazine, and hexazinone, was applied to the plots at 10 kg a.i./ha. At various times after application, soil was removed from the plots and analysed for residual levels of herbicides, in vitro rates of mineralisation of 14C-ring-labelled atrazine, and numbers of atrazine-degrading microbes. Atrazine and terbuthylazine were below detectable levels (<0.01 mg/kg) in Himatangi topsoil 18 months after pesticide application but still detectable in topsoil from the Kiripaka site. Hexazinone was detectable in topsoil from both soil plots 18 months after application. Atrazine adsorption isotherms were constructed for topsoil and subsoil from both plots, with estimated Kf values ...
Abstract Ornithogenic soils that form in penguin rook-eries contain high levels of organic carbon... more Abstract Ornithogenic soils that form in penguin rook-eries contain high levels of organic carbon and nitrogen. On Seabee Hook, Cape Hallett, Antartica, ornithogenic soil was contaminated with hydrocarbons following establish-ment of a scientific research station. In these soils ...
We have investigated the availability of phenanthrene, intercalated into a montmorillonite clay s... more We have investigated the availability of phenanthrene, intercalated into a montmorillonite clay saturated with tetradecyltrimethylammonium (TDTMA) cations, as a carbon and energy source to two bacterial species. When phenanthrene was provided in the ‘free’ form (i.e. in the absence of clay), the number of viable bacterial cells (Burkholderia sp.) increased from 2.7×106 at the beginning to 1.5×108 after 5 days
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