B.Sc.

Microbiology Sem V
Environmental Microbiology
Unit I
Microbial ecosystem and environment
Sarita S. Sharma
M.G. Science College
 Microbial ecology
 The term microbial ecology is now used in a general way to
describe the presence and contributions of microorganisms,
through their activities, to the places where they are found.
Microbial ecology is the study of the behaviour and activities of
microorganisms in their natural environments.
 Environmental microbiology, in comparison, relates primarily to
all- over microbial processes that occur in a soil, water or food,
as examples. It is not concerned with the particular
microenvironment where the microorganisms actually are
functioning, but with the broader-scale effects of microbial presence
and activities.
 Microbes deal with small or minute organisms, while ecology is a
branch of biology dealing with organisms, their relationship with
one another and that of their environment. There are several
approaches to the teaching and learning of microbial ecology.
 Microbial ecology
 One approach is to consider the activities of the microorganism in
nutrient cycles and food chains; another approach is to look at it
from the factors which govern microorganisms and their
environments.
 Generally speaking, microbial ecology is seldom primarily concerned
with their activities in terms of the resultant chemical and physical
changes they make in the environment and those aspects of
nutrient cycles, polluted water sources, diseased patients,
biochemical capacities of causative organisms to induce infection
and so on are all considered as aspects of microbial ecology.
 The objective of this course is to study microbial community
dynamics and the interactions of microbes with each other and with
plants, animals and the environments in which they live. For the
purpose of this course the soil, air, water, animal and plant surfaces are
considered as specific environments.
 Microbial ecology
 we shall define some basic terms used in microbial ecology.
 1. Ecosystem: This is a combination of biotic and abiotic
components of a specific environment. Normally, such a unit has a
collection of organisms and abiotic components which are unique to
it and as such, one eco-system is different from the other.
 2. Community: This is a collection of microorganism inhabiting a
given site in the ecosystem (that is the ecosystem without the
environmental factors or abiotic factors).
 3. Population: This is the individual microbial species. Unlike the
community, it is more homogenous and specific.
 4. Individual: This refers to the individual organisms in the
population.
 Microbial ecology
 The microecology is the science about places of invading of
microorganisms and their ecological links.
 At learning a microbial ecology use the same concepts, as well as in a
common ecology.
 Main of them are the following: population - an elementary evolutional
unit (structure) of a definite species;
 biotope - site, habitation of a population, for parasites - place of their
localization in an organism;
 microbiocenosis - microbial assemblage, association, that is collection
of populations of different species of microorganisms, which
dwell(live) in the defined biotope (for example, in an oral cavity,
reservoir);
 ecosystem - system, in which enters a biotope and microbiocenosis
 Microbial ecology
 Each ecosystem has, associated with it certain physical, chemical and
biological characteristics.
 These factors govern the composition of the community by dictating
which of the individual microorganisms will be successfully
established, and out of those established, some will be dominant
while others are limited and other groups are totally eliminated.
Therefore, selection by environmental factors is important.
 Those organisms that are established are those that are better adapted
to the abiotic conditions (pH, temperature, moisture, water activity,
oxygen concentration etc) in that particular environment.
 Organisms that cannot cope with the prevailing conditions are
eliminated. The environment builds the community through selection.
 It is as a result of this relationship with a community that we have
certain Species of micro-organism as dominant.
 Microbial ecology
 The Habitat: A habitat is an area having a degree of uniformity in
terms of the abiotic components.
 They are therefore also considered to be of ecological significance
e.g. surfaces of plants and animals, soil, open sea, blood, air, nasal
passages, alimentary cannal and so on.
 The size of the habitat is not important because it varies
considerably. The important factor is that certain sets of conditions
are uniform to that area.
 Niche. The ability of microorganisms to make use of resources
available in their habitat is varied and this has lead to the idea of
niche.
 The role of a particular organisms in a particular place is the
niche.
 Microbial ecology
 Microorganism could be divided into types depending on their
functions in the different habitats, those with narrow and those with
broad range of tolerance.
 Those with narrow niche are highly specialized and perform single
function or role e.g. obligate parasites, autotrophic organisms, while those
that carryout a range of functions are said to have a broad niche e.g.
heterotrophic organism. Those that occupy a narrow niche are easily
eliminated if there is a change in environmental conditions especially as it
affects their survival, but they however, flourish luxuriantly when their
conditional requirements are met.
 Examples are photosynthetic micro-organisms which are adversely
affected when the source of light is blocked but they grow rapidly when
there is light. On the other hand, those that have a broad niche are not
severely affected by changes in the environmental conditions.
 Microbial ecology
 Colonization and Succession: When an area is denuded or freshly
exposed e.g. when a tissue is freshly exposed or wounded or when we
have an earth quake which exposes the earth’s surface, a number of
microorganism will be deposited on such surfaces.
 The first microorganisms to arrive on such surfaces are called
pioneers.
 These organisms grow and multiply to form the pioneer community and
from the time the exposed areas are occupied by microorganisms, it is
said to be colonized. After the establishment of the pioneer community,
they feed on the substrates, produced by-products and other waste
materials or metabolites and so the environment becomes modified.
 The modified environment paves way for colonization by other
organisms, while the pioneer communities are gradually eliminated. Thus
we have a situation whereby one community will out-grow and replace
another. This phenomenon is referred to as succession.
 Climax Community: When colonization has taken place, succession
follows and there is a continuous modification of the environment.
However, at a stage the community remains constant for at least some
time and the process of succession is stopped; and a community that
characteristics that habitat results. This is called the climax community.
 The species composition at this stage is maintained reasonably constant
for a period of time. The stability in composition does not mean that the
organisms do not die but the number of organisms dying is quickly
replaced and this is a reflection of dynamic equilibrium. The climax
community therefore is a self-replicating entity where the
microorganisms and the physical environment are in constant
equilibrium.
 Often, there are alternations in the physical conditions e.g when a
large quantity of pollutants is introduced into a stream, the organic matter
component is eliminated and the climax community is distorted.
However, such disturbances are temporary and the original climax
community is restored with time or as soon as the disturbance is
removed.
 Microbial ecology
 The Physical Environment
 Microorganisms, as they interact with each other and
with other organisms in biogeochemical cycling, also
are influenced by their immediate physical
environment, whether this might be soil, water, the
deep marine environment, or a plant or animal host.
 It is important to consider the specific environments
where microorganisms interact with each other, other
organisms, and the physical environment.
 Microbial ecology
 The Microenvironment and Niche
 The specific physical location of a microorganism is
its microenvironment.
 In this physical microenvironment, the flux of
required oxidants, reductants, and nutrients to the
actual location of the microorganism can be limited.
 At the same time, waste products may not be able to
diffuse away from the microorganism at rates
sufficient to avoid growth inhibition by high waste
product concentrations.
 These fluxes and gradients create a unique niche,
which includes the microorganism, its physical
habitat, the time of resource use, and the resources
available for microbial growth and function (figure
28.26).
 Microorganisms and Ecosystems
 Microorganisms, as they interact with each other and other organisms,
and influence nutrient cycling in their specific microenvironments and
niches, also contribute to the functioning of ecosystems.
 Ecosystems have been defined as “communities of organisms and
their physical and chemical environments that function as self-
regulating units.”
 These self-regulating biological units respond to environmental changes
by modifying their structure and function.
 Microorganisms in ecosystems can have two complementary roles:
 (1) the synthesis of new organic matter from CO2 and other inorganic
compounds during primary production and
 (2) decomposition of this accumulated organic matter.
 Microorganisms and Ecosystems
 A simple selfregulating ecosystem in which
primary production of organic matter occurs is
shown in figure 28.31.
 This consists of an alga and a “halo” of
surrounding bacteria that are using the organic
matter formed by algal photosynthesis as a carbon,
electron, and energy source, and returning the
organic matter to its original mineral constituents.
 Self-regulation in this ecological unit is shown by
its response to light.
 Decreased light fluxes lead to a decrease in
photosynthesis and organic matter release.
 Under these conditions, the heterotrophic bacterial
community will be limited and its activity and
biomass may be decreased.
 Microorganisms and Ecosystems
 The general relationships between the primary producers that
synthesize organic matter, the heterotrophic decomposers, and the
consumers are illustrated in figure 28.32.
 Microorganisms of different types contribute to each of these
complementary relationships.
 In terrestrial environments the primary producers are usually vascular
plants. In freshwater and marine environments, the cyanobacteria and
algae play a similar role.
 The major energy source driving primary production is light in both
habitats although in hydrothermal and hydrocarbon seep areas,
chemotrophic ecosystems occur.
 The higher consumers, including humans, are hemoheterotrophs.
These consumers depend on the “life support systems” provided by
organisms that accumulate and decompose organic matter.
 Microorganisms and Ecosystems
 Microorganisms and Ecosystems
 Microorganisms thus carry out many important functions as they interact in ecosystems,
including:
 1. Contributing to the formation of organic matter through photosynthetic and chemosynthetic
processes.
 2. Decomposing organic matter, often with the release of inorganic compounds (e.g., CO2, NH4 ,
CH4, H2) in mineralization processes.
 3. Serving as a nutrient-rich food source for other chemoheterotrophic microorganisms, including
protozoa and animals.
 4. Modifying substrates and nutrients used in symbiotic growth processes and interactions, thus
contributing to biogeochemical cycling.
 5. Changing the amounts of materials in soluble and gaseous forms. This occurs either directly by
metabolic processes or indirectly by modifying the environment.
 6. Producing inhibitory compounds that decrease microbial activity or limit the survival and
functioning of plants and animals.
 7. Contributing to the functioning of plants and animals through positive and negative symbiotic
interactions.
 Microorganism movement between ecosystems
 o Soil can blow around
 o Rivers move microorganisms
 o Animals move microorganisms around
 o Human activities
 • Extremophiles are microbes that live in places where they are the only organisms capable of
surviving
 Microorganisms constantly are moving and being moved between ecosystems. This often
happens naturally in many ways:
 (1) soil is transported around the Earth by windstorms and falls on land areas and waters far
from its origins
 (2) rivers transport eroded materials, sewage plant effluents, and urban wastes to the ocean;
and
 (3) insects and animals release urine, feces, and other wastes to environments as they migrate
around the Earth.
 Microorganism movement between ecosystems
 When plants and animals die after moving to a new environment, they decompose and their
specially adapted and coevolved microorganisms (and their nucleic acids) are released.
 The fecal-oral route of disease transmission, often involving foods and waters, and the
acquisition of diseases in hospitals are important examples of pathogen movement between
ecosystems.
 Each time a person coughs or sneezes, microorganisms also are being transported to new
ecosystems.
 Humans also both deliberately and unintentionally move microorganisms between different
ecosystems.
 This occurs when microbes are added to environments to speed up microbially mediated
degradation processes or when a plant-associated inoculum such as Rhizobium, is added to a
soil to increase the formation of nitrogen-fixing nodules on legumes.
 One of the most important accidental modes of microbial movement is the use of modern
transport vehicles such as automobiles, trains, ships, and airplanes.
 These often rapidly move microorganisms long distances.
 Microorganism movement between ecosystems
 The fate of microorganisms placed in environments where they normally do
not live, or of microorganisms returned to their original environments, is
important both theoretically and practically.
 Pathogens that are normally associated with an animal host are greatly
affected by such movement because these microorganisms largely have lost
their ability to compete effectively with microorganisms indigenous to other
environments.
 Upon moving to a new environment, the population of viable and culturable
pathogens gradually decreases.
 However, more sensitive viability assessment procedures, particularly
molecular techniques, indicate that nonculturable microorganisms, as
observed with Vibrio, may play critical roles in disease occurrence.
 Microorganism movement between ecosystems
 Many studies have been directed toward learning why microorganisms which have
coevolved with animals gradually die after being released to soils and waters.
 Among the possibilities are predation by protozoa, and other organisms, lack of space,
lack of nutrients, and the presence of toxic substances. After many years of study, it
appears that the major reason “foreign” microorganisms die out is that they can no
longer compete effectively with indigenous microorganisms for the low amounts of
nutrients present in the environment.
 Even microorganisms recovered from a particular environment, after growth in the
laboratory on rich media, may lose their ability to survive when placed back in their
original environment. The cause may be physical or physiological.
 From a physical standpoint the microorganisms may find themselves outside their
protected physical niche, where they can be consumed by protozoa and other predators
as noted previously.
 Microorganism movement between ecosystems
 On the other hand, after growth in rich laboratory media, they may
have lost the ability to compete physiologically with the native
populations.
 It is of interest that these foreign microorganisms survive longer
outside of their original hosts at lower temperatures (e.g., in polar
regions, ice, or frozen foods).
 Under these conditions, the survival time of these foreign bacteria is
greatly extended.
 Microbial consortia
 A microbial consortium is two or more microbial groups living
symbiotically.
 Consortiums can be endosymbiotic or ectosymbiotic.
 The concept of consortium was first introduced by Johannes Reinke
in 1872.
 Application
 Bioremediation of oil spillage in soils using consortia of microbes
having various positive oil degrading isolates. Which help in
bioremediation of oil-contaminated soils.
 2.Plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPM) are heterogeneous
in nature comprising bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes that survive in
and around the root rhizosphere.
 PGPM enhance the plant growth and yield either directly or indirectly.
 The direct plant growth promotion involves in the solubilization or
mobilization of important nutrients (phosphorous, potash, zinc,
sulphur, and iron) or fixing atmospheric nitrogen for the uptake of
plants.
 They are also known to produce various plant growth promoting
hormones like indole acetic acid, gibberlic acid, cytokinins and
ethylene.
 PGPM also indirectly reduces the deleterious effect of
phytopathogens.
 Biofilms
 Microorganisms tend to create their own microenvironments and niches,
even without having a structured physical environment available, by
creating biofilms.
 These are organized microbial systems consisting of layers of microbial
cells associated with surfaces. Such biofilms are an important factor in
almost all areas of microbiology, as shown in figure 28.27a.
 Simple biofilms develop when microorganisms attach and form a
monolayer of cells.
 Depending on the particular microbial growth environment (light,
nutrients present and diffusion rates), these biofilms can become more
complex with layers of organisms of different types (figure 28.27b).
 A typical example would involve photosynthetic organisms on the
surface, facultative chemoorganotrophs in the middle, and possibly
sulfate-reducing microorganisms on the bottom.
 Biofilms
Biofilm
 Biofilms
 These more complex biofilms, in which microorganisms create unique
environments, can be observed by the use of confocal scanning laser
microscopy (CSLM).
 The diversity of nonliving and living surfaces that can be exploited by
biofilm-forming microorganisms is illustrated in figure 28.28.
 These include surfaces in catheters and dialysis units, which have intimate
contact with human body fluids. Control of such microorganisms and their
establishment in these sensitive medical devices is an important part of
modern hospital care.
 Microorganisms that form biofilms on living organisms such as plants or
animals have additional advantages. In these cases the surfaces themselves
often release nutrients, in the form of sloughed cells, soluble materials, and
gases.
 Biofilms
 Biofilms
 These biofilms also can play major roles in disease because they can protect
pathogens from disinfectants, create a focus for later occurrence of disease,
or release microorganisms and microbial products that may affect the
immunological system of a susceptible host.
 Biofilms are critical in ocular diseases because Chlamydia, Staphylococcus,
and other pathogens survive in ocular devices such as contact lenses and in
cleaning solutions (figure 28.29).
Microbial Mats
Microbial Mats
 Microbial Mats
 The sulfide that these organisms
produce diffuses to the anaerobic
lighted region, allowing sulfur-
dependent photosynthetic
microorganisms to grow.
 Some believe that microbial mats could
have allowed the formation of terrestrial
ecosystems prior to the development of
vascular plants, and fossil microbial
mats, called stromatolites, have been
dated at over 3.5 billion years old.
 Environmental microbiology
 Definition: Environmental microbiology is the study of microbial
interactions microbial processes and microbial communities in the
environment. Environmental microbiology includes: Study of
 Structure and activities of microbial communities.
 Microbial interaction and interaction with macroorganisims.
 Population biology of microorganisms.
 Element cycles and biogeochemical processes.
 Microbial life in extreme and unusual environment.
 Environmental microbiology
 Diversity:
 The ability of microbes (tiny organisms) that do big job in our
environment play a key role in promoting biodiversity.
 These extremely high levels of biodiversity may help ensure the
stability of ecosystem processes in the face of environmental change.
 Microbes are the most abundant and diverse organisms on earth they
carry out essential ecosystem services.
 Environmental microbiology
 Microbial Habitats
 These are found in just about every kind of habitat.
 Microbes are incredibly diverse thriving in environments from the very
cold to the extremely hot.
 They are also tolerant of many other conditions such as limited water
availability high salt content and low oxygen levels.
 Not every microbe can survive in all habitats.
 Environmental microbiology
 Microbial Habitats in Other Organisms.
 Microbes also live on other organisms. As with the ones found on people
these microbes can be harmful or beneficial to the host.
 Example: Bacteria grow in nodules on the roots of pea and bean plants.
These microbes convert nitrogen from the air into a form that the plants
can use.
 In many ways animals and plants have evolved as habitats for the
millions of microbes that call them home.
 Extreme Microbial Environment
 The microbes living in extreme conditions are called extremophiles.
 This literally means that they love the extreme conditions of their habitat.
 The extremophiles are so well adapted to their own environment.
 Some like the ones in hot springs need extreme temperatures to grow.
 Microbial interactions
 Symbiosis An association of two or more different species.
Symbiosis

Ectosymbiosis Endosymbiosis
 Ectosymbiosis: One organism can be located on the surface of another,
as an ectosymbiont. In this case, the ectosymbiont usually is a smaller
organism located on the surface of a larger organism.
 Endosymbiosis: one organism can be located within another organism as
an endosymbiont.
 Ecto/ endosymbiosis. microorganisms live on both the inside and the
outside of another organism
 Microbial interactions
 Positive interactions
•Mutualism
•Protocooperation
•Commensalism

 Negative interactions
• Predation
• Parasitism
•Amensalism
•Competition
 Mutualism
 Mutualism [Latin mutuus, borrowed or reciprocal] defines the
relationship in which some reciprocal benefit accrues to both partners.
 •Relationship with some degree of obligation
 •partners cannot live separately
 •Mutualist and host are dependent on each other
 Examples of Mutalism
 1. The protozoan-termite relationship
 •flagellated protozoa live in the gut of termites and
wood roaches.
 •These flagellates exist on a diet of carbohydrates,
acquired as cellulose ingested by their host
 •The protozoa engulf wood particles, digest the
cellulose, and metabolize it to acetate and other
products.
 •Termites oxidize the acetate released by their
flagellates. Figure 28.2 Mutualism. Light micrographs of
(a) a worker termite of the genus Reticulitermes eating
 •Because the host is almost always incapable of wood , and (b) Trichonympha, a multiflagellated
synthesizing cellulases (enzymes that catalyse the protozoan from the termite’s gut.
hydrolysis of cellulose), it is dependent on the Notice the many flagella that occur over most of its
length. The ability of Trichonympha to break down
mutualistic protozoa for its existence. cellulose enables termites to use wood as a food source.
 Examples of Mutalism
 2. Lichens
 Lichens are the association between specific ascomycetes (the
fungus “my-cobiont”) and either green algae or cyanobacteria
“phycobiont “..
 •The characteristic morphology of a given lichen is a property of
the mutualistic association and is not exhibited by either
symbiont individually.
 •Because the phycobiont is a photoautotroph dependent only on
light, carbon dioxide, and certain mineral nutrients,the fungus
can get its organic carbon directly from the alga or
cyanobacterium.
 •In turn the fungus protects the phycobiont from excess light
intensities, provides water and minerals to it, and creates a firm
substratum within which the phycobiont can grow protected
from environmental stress. Lichens. Crustose (encrusting) lichens
growing on a granite post.
 Mutualism - Syntrophism
 Syntrophism [Greek syn, together, and trophe, nourishment] is an
association in which the growth of one organism either depends on or is
improved by growth factors, nutrients, or substrates provided by another
organism growing nearby. Sometimes both organisms benefit.
 This type of mutualism is also known as cross- feeding or the satellite
phenomenon .
 A very important syntrophism occurs in anaerobic methanogenic
ecosystems such as sludge digesters, anaerobic freshwater aquatic
sediments, and flooded soils. In these environments, fatty acids can be
degraded to produce H2 and methane by the interaction of two different
bacterial groups.
 Methane production by methanogens depends on interspecies hydrogen
transfer. A fermentative bacterium generates hydrogen gas, and the
methanogen uses it quickly as a substrate for methane gas production.
 Mutualism -The Legume–Root Nodule Symbiosis
 A plant–bacterial mutualism of great importance to humans is that of leguminous plants
and nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
 Legumes are plants that bear their seeds in pods.a mutualism (root nodules, The partners
in a symbiosis are called symbionts, and most nitrogen-fixing bacterial symbionts of
plants are collectively called rhizobia, derived from the name of a major genus,
Rhizobium.
 The same genus (or even species) can contain both rhizobial and nonrhizobial strains.
Infection of legume roots by rhizobia leads to the formation of root nodules (Figure
25.7) in which the bacteria fix gaseous nitrogen (N2).
 Nitrogen fixation in root nodules accounts for a fourth of the N2 fixed annually on Earth
and is of enormous agricultural importance, as it increases the fixed nitrogen content of
soil. Nodulated legumes can grow well on unfertilized bare soils that are nitrogen
deficient, while other plants grow only poorly on them (Figure 25.8).
 Mutualism -The Legume–Root Nodule Symbiosis

Figure 25.7 Soybean root nodules. The nodules
developed from infection by Bradyrhizobium
japonicum. The main stem of this soybean
plant is about 0.5 cm in diameter.
Figure 25.8 Effect of nodulation on plant growth. A field
of unnodulated (left) and nodulated (right) soybean
plants growing in nitrogen-poor soil. The yellow color is
typical of chlorosis, the result of nutrient (in this case N)
starvation
 Protocooperation
 A positive (not obligate) symbiosis which involves
syntrophic (one organism lives off the by products
of another) relationships
•Benefits both organisms in relationship
•Differs from mutualism because cooperative
relationship is not obligatory
 Examples of protocooperation
 A Marine Worm-Bacterial Protocooperative
relationship the worms secrete mucous from tiny
glands on their backs to feed the bacteria, and in
return they are protected by some degree of
insulation.
Figure:Alvinella pompejana
A Marine Worm-Bacterial Protocooperative
Relationship. Alvinella pompejana, a 10 cm long worm,
forms a protocooperative relationship with bacteria that
grow as long threads on the worm’s surface.
These waters contain sulfur compound that are used by
the bacteria as electron acceptors in the presence of
fumarate and pyruvate,and the worm uses the bacteria as a
food source. The bacteria and Alvinella
are found in tunnels near the black smoker–heated water
fonts.
 Commensalism
 Commensalism [Latin com, together, and mensa, table] is a
relationship in which one symbiont, the commensal, benefits while the
other (sometimes called the host) is neither harmed nor helped (neutral
 •Commensal - organism that benefits
 •When the commensal is separated from its host experimentally, it can
survive without being provided some factor or factors of host origin.
 •Commensalistic relationships between microorganisms include
situations in which the waste product of one microorganism is the
substrate for another species.
 •Commensalistic associations also occur when one microbial group
modifies the environment to make it more suited for another organism.
 Examples of Commensalism
 Intestinal microorganisms
 in the human colon, when oxygen is used up by the facultatively
anaerobic E. coli, obligate anaerobes such as Bacteroides are able to grow
in the colon.
 Microbial succession during spoilage of milk
 fermenting bacteria promote growth of acid tolerant species
 Formation of biofilms
 initial colonizer helps other microorganisms attach
 Skin or surface microbes on plants or animals
 host plant or animal releases volatile, soluble, and particulate organic
compounds used by commensals
 Negative interactions

 Predation
 •When one organism, the predator, engulfs
and digests another organism, the prey
 •The prey can be larger or smaller than the
predator, and this normally results in the
death of the prey.
 Some example of predator and prey are lion
and zebra, bear and fish, fox and rabbit
 Examples of Predation

 a)Bdellovibrio, a periplasmic predator that

penetrates the cell wall and grows outside the
plasma membrane,

 b)Vampirococcus with its unique epibiotic

mode of attacking a prey bacterium

 c)Daptobacter showing its cytoplasmic

location as it attacks a susceptible bacterium.

 Predation
 It has beneficial effects:
•Digestion, e.g The microbial loop
•Protection and increased fitness
•Survival and increased pathogensity e.g, The
intracellular survival of Legionella ingested by
ciliates

The microbial loop

 Parasitism
 Parasitism is one of the most complex microbial interactions; the line between
parasitism and predation is difficult to define.
 This is a relationship in which one of a pair benefits from the other, and the host is
usually harmed.
 This can involve nutrient acquisition and/or physical maintenance in or on the host.
 Some bacterial viruses can establish a lysogenic relationship with their hosts, and
the viruses, in their prophage state, can confer positive new attributes on the host
bacteria, as occurs with toxin production by Corynebacterium diphtheriae .
 Parasitic fungi include Rhizophydium sphaerocarpum with the alga Spyrogyra.
Also, Rhizoctonia solani is a parasite of Mucor and Pythium, which is important in
biocontrol processes, the use of one microorganism to control another.
 Human diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa are example of
parasitism.
 Amensalism
 Amensalism A relationship in which the product of one
organism has negative effect on other organism
 Example
 • The production of antibiotics that can inhibit or kill a
susceptible microorganism
 •Bacteriocins (Proteinaceous toxins produced by bacteria with
antimicrobial toxicity. Most bacteriocins target other strains of
the same species as the producing organism, but some are more
broad-spectrum)
 Competition
 •Competition arises when different
microorganisms within a population or
community try to acquire the same resource,
whether this is a physical location or a
particular limiting nutrient

 •This principle of competition was studied by

E. F. Gause, who in 1934 described this as the
competitive exclusion principle.(When
competition between species results in the
elimination of one species from a given habitat
or region
 BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES –
 Microorganisms, in the course of their growth
and metabolism, interact with each other in the
cycling of nutrients, including carbon, sulfur,
nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, and manganese.
 This nutrient cycling, called biogeochemical
cycling Microbes are key in maintaining
ecological balance on Earth
 Oxygen Cycle
 • Oxygen is a key element for chemical
reactions of aerobic respiration
 • Photosynthesis releases oxygen as a product
 • Algae and Cyanobacteria along with plants are
the key organisms to carry out photosynthesis
 BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
 Phosphorus Cycle
 • Microbes use phosphorus in the form of calcium phosphate, magnesium
phosphate and iron phosphate
 • Phosphorous from these forms are assimilated as phosphate into DNA,
RNA, and other organic compounds
 • When the organisms are used as food by other organisms, it is released into
the food chain
 • Decomposers release the phosphates into the soil so it can be absorbed by
the plants
 • Phosphate is often used in fertilizer and if excess phosphate from fertilizer or
industry is drained into water supplies, it can cause algal blooms
 BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
 Carbon Cycle
 Cyanobacteria and algae along with plants do
the photosynthesis
 • The breakdown of organic matter is a major
part of the carbon cycle
 • Bacteria and fungi are the major decomposers
 Iron Cycle
 • The iron cycle revolves around the conversion
of ferrous iron to ferric iron and back again
 • Ferric iron reduction is part of the respiratory
pathway of some bacteria
 • Some bacteria can produce magnetite
 • Some bacteria can use ferrous iron as an
electron donor
 Nitrogen Cycle
 Nitrogen Cycle is primarily a prokaryotic activity
Bacteria use their metabolic activities during numerous
parts of the cycle
 • Bacteria and fungi act as decomposers of plant and
animal matter to form ammonia.
 • Nitrogen fixation – converting nitrogen gas from
atmosphere into ammonia and bacteria fix atmospheric
nitrogen in legume root nodules.
 • Many bacteria and Cyanobacteria can live apart from
legumes and can fix nitrogen in the soil.
 • Nitrification – Conversion of ammonia to nitrate –
Nitrification occurs in soils,
 • water and marine environments where the nitrifying
bacteria live.
 • Denitrification – nitrate is converted into gaseous
nitrogen. Numerous types of denitrifying bacteria are
involved in reducing nitrates to nitrites to nitrous oxide
and then to gaseous nitrogen
 Sulfur Cycle
 • Many bacteria play important roles in the sulfur cycle
 • Sulfur compounds are a key part of proteins
 • Sulfur-reducing bacteria during decomposition reduce sulfate
compounds to hydrogen sulfide
 • Photosynthetic sulfur bacteria grow anaerobically and oxidize
hydrogen sulfide releasing elemental sulfur
 • Species of colorless sulfur bacteria grow in hydrogen sulfide
converting the sulfide to sulfate where it is available to plants and then
to the rest of the food chain
 Metal toxicity – The toxicity of metals such as mercury or zinc can be
enhanced by microbes and end up in the food chain and poison humans