Microbiology of Extreme SoilsPatrice Dion, Chandra Shekhar Nautiyal My auxiliaries are the dews and rains which water this dry soil, and what fertility is in the soil itself, which for the most part is lean and effete. – Henry David Thoreau, Walden Pond The concerns that Thoreau had about his beans were nothing to those that would face a similarly conscientious gardener in the Atacama Desert or on the planet Mars, where dews are rare, or frozen, and rains are extremely rare – or absent al- gether. Yet we live in a time when an appreciation of the differences and simila- ties among soils (or regolith: no organics detected on Mars, as yet!) can provide a perspective on life at its most fundamental level: that of microbiology. Microbes are the Earth’s finest chemists, and most prodigious chemical engineers. Beyond pure chemistry, they know tricks with electrons that would make any Silicon Valley chip designer blush with pride. And yet their size and association with human food (good) and diseases (bad) has for more than a century obscured their essential place in making the Earth a habitable planet for humans. One of the most interesting facets of this book is that we are shown those chemists at work in one of their most important habitats. Soils comprise both a pervasive environment on our planet and one of the most important (even most fruitful!) of habitats with respect to human survival. |
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Contents
| 3 | |
Microbial Diversity Life Strategies and Adaptation to Life in Extreme Soils | 15 |
Extreme Views on Prokaryote Evolution | 44 |
Biodiversity Extracting Lessons from Extreme Soils | 71 |
Halophilic and Halotolerant MicroOrganisms from Soils | 87 |
Atacama Desert Soil Microbiology | 116 |
Microbial Communities and Processes in Arctic Permafrost Environments | 133 |
Aerobic EndosporeForming Bacteria from Antarctic Geothermal Soils | 155 |
Subsurface Geomicrobiology of the Iberian Pyritic Belt | 204 |
The Potential for Extant Life in the Soils of Mars | 225 |
Bacteriology of Extremely Cold Soils Exposed to Hydrocarbon Pollution | 247 |
Microbiology of OilContaminated Desert Soils and Coastal Areas in the Arabian Gulf Region | 275 |
Microbial Communities in FireAffected Soils | 299 |
Endophytes and Rhizosphere Bacteria of Plants Growing in Heavy MetalContaining Soils | 317 |
Interactions of Fungi and Radionuclides in Soil | 333 |
| 357 | |
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Common terms and phrases
acid Actinobacteria activity adaptation aerobic anaerobic Antarctic soils Antarctica Appl Environ Microbiol Appl Microbiol archaea Arctic areas Atacama Desert Bacillus bacteria bacterial communities bacterium biodegradation biodiversity Biol biological biomass bioremediation carbon cells coastal concentrations contaminated degradation desert soil detection ecosystems effect endospore environmental enzymes extreme soils Extremophiles FEMS Microbiol Ecol fire fungal fungi gene genera genetic genus Geobacillus geothermal soils global growth habitats Halomonas halophilic heavy metals hydrocarbons hyperaccumulator hypersaline hypolithic Int J Syst isolated levels Mars Martian metabolism methane methanogenesis methanogenic methanotrophs micro-organisms microbial communities microbial diversity Microbiology mineral moderately halophilic molecular mutation nitrogen nutrients oil-utilizing oxidation peat peatlands permafrost plants polluted potential processes prokaryotes Pseudomonas psychrophilic radiation radionuclides Radwan rhizosphere saline soils salt sediments soil microbial soil samples species strains stress studies substrate subsurface sulfur surface Syst Evol Microbiol temperature terrestrial thermophilic tundra uptake Ventosa
Popular passages
Page v - My auxiliaries are the dews and rains which water this dry soil, and what fertility is in the soil itself, which for the most part is lean and effete. My enemies are worms, cool days, and most of all woodchucks. The last have nibbled for me a quarter of an acre clean. But what right had I to oust johnswort and the rest, and break up their ancient...
Bibliographic information
| Title | Microbiology of Extreme Soils Volume 13 of Soil Biology |
| Editors | Patrice Dion, Chandra Shekhar Nautiyal |
| Contributor | J.D. Rummel |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media, 2007 |
| ISBN | 354074231X, 9783540742319 |
| Length | 369 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection Science / Earth Sciences / Sedimentology & Stratigraphy Science / Life Sciences / Ecology Science / Life Sciences / General Science / Life Sciences / Microbiology Technology & Engineering / Agriculture / Agronomy / Soil Science Technology & Engineering / Agriculture / General |
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