Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors' Preface
- Isotopic-labelling methods for deciphering the function of uncultured micro-organisms
- Biofilms and metal geochemistry: the relevance of micro-organism-induced geochemical transformations
- Minerals, mats, pearls and veils: themes and variations in giant sulfur bacteria
- Soil micro-organisms in Antarctic dry valleys: resource supply and utilization
- New insights into bacterial cell-wall structure and physico-chemistry: implications for interactions with metal ions and minerals
- Horizontal gene transfer of metal homeostasis genes and its role in microbial communities of the deep terrestrial subsurface
- Biosilicification: the role of cyanobacteria in silica sinter deposition
- Metabolic diversity in the microbial world: relevance to exobiology
- Biogeochemical cycling in polar, temperate and tropical coastal zones: similarities and differences
- Fungal roles and function in rock, mineral and soil transformations
- The deep intraterrestrial biosphere
- Iron, nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc cycling and consequences for primary productivity in the oceans
- Mechanisms and environmental impact of microbial metal reduction
- New insights into the physiology and regulation of the anaerobic oxidation of methane
- Biogeochemical roles of fungi in marine and estuarine habitats
- Role of micro-organisms in karstification
- Index
Biofilms and metal geochemistry: the relevance of micro-organism-induced geochemical transformations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors' Preface
- Isotopic-labelling methods for deciphering the function of uncultured micro-organisms
- Biofilms and metal geochemistry: the relevance of micro-organism-induced geochemical transformations
- Minerals, mats, pearls and veils: themes and variations in giant sulfur bacteria
- Soil micro-organisms in Antarctic dry valleys: resource supply and utilization
- New insights into bacterial cell-wall structure and physico-chemistry: implications for interactions with metal ions and minerals
- Horizontal gene transfer of metal homeostasis genes and its role in microbial communities of the deep terrestrial subsurface
- Biosilicification: the role of cyanobacteria in silica sinter deposition
- Metabolic diversity in the microbial world: relevance to exobiology
- Biogeochemical cycling in polar, temperate and tropical coastal zones: similarities and differences
- Fungal roles and function in rock, mineral and soil transformations
- The deep intraterrestrial biosphere
- Iron, nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc cycling and consequences for primary productivity in the oceans
- Mechanisms and environmental impact of microbial metal reduction
- New insights into the physiology and regulation of the anaerobic oxidation of methane
- Biogeochemical roles of fungi in marine and estuarine habitats
- Role of micro-organisms in karstification
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
This chapter is intended to provide a brief overview of the key concepts underlying the emerging area of environmental microbial metal geochemistry, rather than an exhaustive synthesis. The reader is referred to the following more comprehensive reviews on the biogeochemistry of metals (Warren & Haack, 2001), metal-mineral reactions (Brown & Parks, 2001), emerging molecular-level geochemical techniques (O'Day, 1999; Brown & Sturchio, 2002) and a recent synthesis of how genetic expression in the environment can underpin geochemical reactions (Croal et al., 2004). The relevance of micro-organisms to metal behaviour arises from the overlap of the biosphere with the geosphere and the transformations that occur because of their interactions. Microorganisms have evolved in intimate association with the rocks, soils and waters (i.e. geosphere) in which they find themselves. In order to grow and survive, they have adapted to these environments and use the inorganic components to drive their metabolic machinery; the myriad functional pathways by which they do so ensure that they influence a number of key elemental cycles in the process. As a consequence, many important geochemical processes are ultimately shaped by life, rather than strict geochemical equilibria, a fact that is increasingly recognized as strict geochemical principles fail to constrain observed environmental behaviour.
Trace-metal behaviour in the environment is of increasing global concern as water and soil contamination with these toxic substances continues and the detrimental effects on ecosystems and human health emerge.
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- Micro-organisms and Earth Systems , pp. 11 - 34Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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