CVE 5423 - Ecological Aspects of Environmental Microbiology

• Explain how environmental conditions affect nitrogen transformations such as nitritation, nitrification and anammox
• Identify conditions that support the proliferation of environmental pathogens
• Develop an understanding of how the inter-related activities of a consortium of microbes can function to create a pathway for degradation of organic matter
• Use scientific literature to define the distribution and significance of specific bacteria of special importance to use of the natural environment by humans

• None

• Nitrogen transformations
  • Ammonia to nitrate
  • Nitrite to nitrogen gas
  • Ammonia to nitrogen gas (anammox)
• Phosphorus accumulation
  • Rhodocyclus
  • Acinetobacter
• Acetogenesis
• Role of Clostridium in anaerobic decomposition of organic matter
• Methanogenic bacteria
  • hydrogenic
  • acetogenic
• Pfiesteria   - variation in life cycle & pathogenicity
• HAB (harmful algal blooms) bacteria
  • Microcystis
  • Red tide - dinoflagellates
• Escherichia coli
  • Life outside of its normal host
  • Fate in aquatic systems - effects of temperature, nutrients, other biota
  • Pathogenicity & genome variation
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa 
  • Utility in biodegradation
  • Pathogenicity for cystic fibrosis patients
• Aquatic hyphomycete fungi and their role in degradation of cellulosic material