Microbiology Lecture #28 Notes C28 p756-783 Microbes and the Environment

Videos: Pfeisteria, PrinceWilliamSound, etc.

Recycling: Humans vs. Biosphere's efficiencies ( Recycling 3 days waste/ yr.!!!)

Missing (or slow) assembly line link (man's station); accumulation at preceding point (like metabolic pathways).

Urey-Miller Experiments: Origin of life; an open question. Repeated many times with different cocktails.

Biogeochemistry: a lucrative major! Majority in soil = bacteria. FBI: Anthrax in soil? How likely to get on a random swab?

Intense interactions; fungi lasso worms, micorrhizal death; Black Forest's acid rain?

Physician-induced illness; a rarity? "When help becomes harm." Avoid doctors?

Numerous pathogens transmitted by water. Common vehicle epidemics; sharp rise. Medium to grow Salmonella, Giardia, hepatitis virus simultaneously?

Nitrogen often limiting, so, intensively studied. Nitrogenase and acetylene reductase; not always coincident.

Carbon, phosphorus, sulfur, etc all recycled. More CO produced than consumed? If so, rapid asphyxiation! (Pass EPA limit by 1915 from anthropogenic CO)

Septic tanks and water sources; don't put them right together! Water: good source (Arkansas River metals). Dual source drinking/other water; solution we won't use.

MPN, membrane filtration (quicker!)

Biodegradable plastic: cellulose + plastic; photodegradable; how fast does stuff break down in landfills?

Rathje, author of Rubbish! ($5,000 speaker fee) Arizona "garbage project"; insights into the rise and fall of societies, and how much your neighbor drinks, etc....