Different Environments they exist

1. Prepared by –
Dr Misbah Ajaz
Dept. Of Microbiology
BGSBU-Rajouri
Ecological Diversity Of
Microbes

2. Microbial Ecology
• It studies the diversity of microorganisms by
characterizing bacterial communities in different
environments and determining the factors that
drive diversity in these communities
or
• Also known as environmental microbiology is
the ecology of microorganisms: their relationship
with one another and with their environment.
• It concerns the three major domains of life—
Eukaryota, Archae ,Bacteria as well as Viruses
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

3. continue
• Most types of microbes remain unknown.
• It is estimated that we know fewer than 1% of
the microbial species on Earth.
• Microbes surround us everywhere -- air, water,
soil.
• An average gram of soil contains one billion
(1,000,000,000) microbes representing
probably several thousand species.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

4. Why is it important to study Microbial Ecology?
• Microorganisms are the backbone of
all Ecosystems,
• In zones where photosynthesis is unable to take
place because of the absence of
light, Chemosynthetic microbes provide energy
and carbon to the other organisms.
• These chemotropic organisms can also function
in environments lacking oxygen by using other
Electron acceptors for their respiration.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

5. Continued
• Other microbes are decomposers: ability to
recycle nutrients from other organisms' waste
products.
• Microbes play a vital role in biogeochemical
cycles:N cycle, P cycle, and C cycle all depend
on microorganisms in one way or another
• Due to the high level of horizontal gene
transfer among microbial
communities, microbial ecology is also of
importance to studies of evolution.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

6. 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.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

7. 1. Terrestrial Microbial Habitats
• Only one percent of microbes that live in soil
have been identified.
• These organisms take part in the formation of soil
and are essential components of their
ecosystems.
• Bacteria and fungi that live in soil feed mostly on
organic matter such as other plants and animals.
• These microbes are very sensitive to their local
environment.
• Factors such as the levels of carbon dioxide and
oxygen, pH,moisture and temperature all affect
the growth of microbes in the soil.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

8. 2.Aquatic Microbial Habitat
• Microbes live in both fresh and salt water.
• These organisms include microscopic plants
and animals as well as bacteria fungi and
viruses.
• As with other microbes the ones that live in
water are adapted to the specific conditions of
their environment.
• Habitats range from ocean water with an
extremely high salt content to freshwater lakes
or rivers.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

9. 3. Microbial Habitats on 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.
9Dr Misbah Ajaz,
Dept Of Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

10. 4.Extreme Microbial Environments
• An extreme environment contains conditions that
are hard to survive for most known life forms.E.g,
1. Oligotrophs,
2. Thermophiles,
3. Psychrophiles,
4. Barophiles,
5. Organic solvent tolerant.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

11. Types of extreme environments
1. Alkaline: broadly conceived as natural habitats above
pH 9 whether persistently, or with regular frequency
or for protracted periods of time.
2. Acidic: broadly conceived as natural habitats below
pH 3 whether persistently, or with regular frequency
or for protracted periods of time.
3. Extremely cold: broadly conceived habitats
periodically or consistently below -17 °C either
persistently, or with regular frequency or for
protracted periods of time.
• Includes mountain sites, polar sites, and deep ocean
habitats.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

12. continued
4. Extremely hot: broadly conceived habitats
periodically or consistently in excess of 55 °C
either persistently, or with regular frequency or
for protracted periods of time.
• Includes sites with geological thermal influences
such as Yellowstone and comparable locations
worldwide or deep-sea vents.
5. Hypersaline: (high salt) environments with salt
concentrations greater than that of seawater,
that is, >3.5%.
• Includes salt lakes.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

13. continued
6. Under pressure: broadly conceived as habitats
under extreme hydrostatic pressure— i.e. aquatic
habitats deeper than 2000 meters and enclosed
habitats under pressure.
• Includes habitats in oceans and deep lakes.
7. Radiation: broadly conceived as habitats
exposed to abnormally high radiation or of
radiation outside the normal range of light.
• Includes habitats exposed to high UV and IR
radiation.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

14. continued
8. Without water: broadly conceived as habitats without free
water whether persistently, or with regular frequency or for
protracted periods of time.
• Includes hot and cold desert environments, and some
endolithic habitats.
9. Without oxygen: broadly conceived as habitats without
free oxygen – whether persistently, or with regular
frequency, or for protracted periods of time.
• Includes habitats in deeper sediments.
10. Altered by humans, i.e. anthropogenically impacted
habitats.
• Includes mine tailings,oil impacted habitats, and pollution
by heavy metals or organic compounds.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

15. OLIGOTROPHS
• Etymology:-the word "Oligotroph" Is a
combination of the greek
• An oligotroph is an organism that can live in an
environment that offers very low levels of
nutrients.
• Oligotrophs are characterized by slow growth,
low rates of metabolism, and generally low
population density.
• According to lab definition, oligotroph is an
organism
• that is capable of growth in a medium containing
0.2–16.8 mg dissolved organic carbon per liter.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

16. OCCURENECE
• Deep oceanic sediments,
• Caves,
• Glacial and polar ice,
• Deep subsurface soil,
• Aquifers,
• Ocean waters, and
• Leached soils.
• In natural ecosystems, oligotrophs and eutrophs
(copiotrophs) coexist, and their proportion is
dependent on the ability of an individual to dominate
in a particular environment.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

17. EXAMPLES
• Oligotrophic bacterium sphingomonas sp. :-isolated
from the resurrection bay, alaska retained its
ultramicrosize irrespective of the growth phase,
carbon source, or carbon concentration.
• Cycloclasticus oligotrophicus :-isolated from the
resurrection bay, shared properties similar to
sphingomonas (e.g. Single copy of the rRNA operon,
relatively small size and genome size).
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

18. THERMOPHILES
• A thermophile is an organism
that thrives at relatively high
temperatures. Or
• A thermophile is an organism
capable of living at
temperatures at or near the
maximum.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

19. OCCURRENCE
• Composts,
• Sun-heated soils,
• Terrestrial hot springs,
• Submarine hydrothermal vents and
• Geothermally heated oil reserves and oil wells.
• Various geothermally heated regions of the earth, such as
hot springs like those in yellowstone national park.
• The diversity of bacteria of a hot spring in bukreshwar
(west bengal, india) is also a home of thermophile.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

20. Examples
• Few thermophilic fungi belonging to
• Zygomycetes (Rhizomucor miehei, R. pusillus),
• Ascomycetes (Chaetomium thermophile, Thermoascus
aurantiacus, Dactylomyces thermophilus,
Melanocarpus albomyces, Talaromyces thermophilus,
T. emersonii, Thielavia terrestris),
• Basidiomycetes (Phanerochaete chrysosporium) and
• Hyphomycetes (Acremonium alabamensis, A.
thermophilum, Myceliophthora thermophila,
Thermomyces lanuginosus, Scytalidium thermophilum,
Malbranchea cinnamomea)
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

21. continued
• ALGAE: (Achanthes exigua, Mougeotia sp. and
Cyanidium caldarium) and
• PROTOZOA:(Cothuria sp. Oxytricha falla,
Cercosulcifer hamathensis, Tetrahymena
pyriformis, Cyclidium citrullus, Naegleria
fowleri).
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

22. BACTERIA AND ARCHAEBACTERIA
• They have been classified based on their optimum temperature
requirements:
• MODERATE:-(Bacillus caldolyticus, Thermoactinomyces vulgaris,
Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum, Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus,
Thermoplasma acidophilum),
• EXTREME:-(Thermus aquaticus, T. thermophilus, Thermodesulfobacterium
commune, Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, Thermomicrobium
roseum,Dictyoglomus thermophilum, Methanococcus vulcanicus,
Sulfurococcus mirabilis, Thermotoga mritima) and
• HYPERTHERMOPHILES:-(Methanoccus jannaschii, Acidianus infernos,
Archaeoglobus profundus, Methanopyrus kandleri, Pyrobaculum
islandicum, Pyrococcus furiosus, Pyrodictium occultum, Pyrolobus fumarii,
Thermococcus littoralis, Ignicoccus islandicum, Nannoarchaeum equitans).
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

23. DIVERSITY IN THERMOPHILES
• The hyperthermophilic extreme acidophiles, with pH optima for growth at
or below 3.0
• E.g sulfolobus, sufurococcus, desulfurolobus and acidianus produce
sulphuric acid from the oxidation of elemental sulphur or sulphidic ores, in
solfataras of yellowstone national park.
• Other microbes that occur in hot environments include metallosphaera
that oxidizes sulphidic ores and stygiolobus sp., which reduces elemental
sulphur.
• Thermoplasma volcanicum that grows at pH 2 and 55°C, has also been
isolated from solfataric fields.
• Thermoplasma acidophilum was isolated from selfheating coal refuse
piles.
• Thiobacillus caldus was isolated from hot acidic soils.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

24. PSYCHROPHILES
• Psychrophilic are microorganisms
that grow in cold environments: -
✓ Proliferate at 0-10°c
✓ Metabolize in snow and ice at -
20°c,
✓ Are predicted to metabolize at -
40°c
✓ Can survive -45°c.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

25. OCCURRENCE AND DIVERSITY
• Cold deserts (antarctica) dryness and drastic variation in
temperature (-55 to 15°c) water availability is a problem, high uv
irradiation.
• Endolithic communities: Algae, pigmented bacteria micrococcus,
deinococcus, yeast cryptococcus and cyanobacteria desiccation
resistant, wind dispersion.
• Sea ice :-major habitat for microorganisms in artic and antarctic
marine ecosystems (-35°c to -2°c).
• Brine inclusions, interstices and ice-water interface form
microhabitats where an extensive microbial community can
develop .
• Sea ice microbial community (simco) :-ice algae (diatoms)
proteobacteria, flavobacteria/cytophaga/bacteroides gram positive:
Planococcus, arthrobacter archaea psychromonas ingrahamii can
grow at –12°c with a generation time of 240h.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

26. continued
• Permafrost sediments (permanently frozen
sediments)
• Siberia 400-900m deep, frozen for 3-5 mya ice
sheets and glaciers (antarctica,high mountains)
• Cold cave sediments
• Sediments of glaciers
• Deep sea (1.5 to 11 km mariana trench)
• Man-made environments: Industrialized production of
food,refrigeration.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

27. Examples
• Various species within the genera: Alcaligenes, Alteromonas,
Aquaspirillum, Arthobacter, Bacillus, Bacteroides, Brevibacterium,
Gelidibacter, Methanococcoides, Methanogenium, Methanosarcina,
Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Moritella, Octandecabacter, Phormidium,
Photobacterium, Polaribacter,Polaromonas, Psychroserpens, Shewanella
and Vibrio have been reported to be psychrophilic.
• The genus Moritella appears to be composed of psychrophiles only.
• The psychrophilic which have been cultivated, belong to g- Proteobacteria,
Shewanella, Photobacterium, Colwellia, Moritella and Alteromonas
haloplanktis.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

28. BAROPHILES
• Barophile is a bacterium which prefers to grow or
exclusively grows at moderately high hydrostatic
pressures such as the challenger deep in the
mariana trench which has a depth of 10,994 m.
• Barophilic bacteria are best adapted with growth
pressure greater than 40mpa whereas
moderately barophilic bacteria grow ideally
above 1 atm but less than 40mpa.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

29. OCCURRENCE
• Most of the barophilic and barotolerant bacteria belong to
g-proteobacteria.
• The coexistence of archaea was shown along with
pseudomonas in mariana trench.
• Filamentous fungi and actinomycetes:-isolated at 1 bar (0.1
mpa).
• Several alkaliphilic, thermophilic and non-extremophilic
microbes.
• Several filamentous fungi were isolated from deep-sea
calcareous sediments at 10 mpa pressure that corresponds
to 1000–3000 m depth.
• Non-sporulating filamentous fungi and yeasts have been
isolated from deep-sea sediments at 0.1 mpa45.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

30. Examples
• Pseudomonas in Mariana Trench.
• Filamentous fungi and actinomycetes.
• Photobacterium,
• Shewanella,
• Colwellia and Motiella.
• barotolerant Alteromonas sp.
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

31. ORGANIC SOLVENT TOLERANT
• Organic-solvent-tolerant bacteria are a
relatively novel group of extremophilic
microorganisms.
• They overcome the toxic and destructive
effects of organic solvents due to the presence
of various adaptive mechanisms
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

32. OCCURRENCE AND DIVERSITY
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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri

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Dr Misbah Ajaz,Dept Of
Microbiology,BGSBU-Rajouri