Microbial Ecology for Assessing Structure and Functioning of Communities of Microbes in Different Environments, from Natural Soil and Water to Cultural Heritage
| Autor: | Grenni P, Cardoni M, Di Lenola M, Barra Caracciolo A |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Sciences and Technologies applied to Cultural Heritage I (STACH 1), edited by Baldi M, Capriotti Vittozzi G, pp. 108–127. Roma: CNR, 2019 info:cnr-pdr/source/autori:Grenni P, Cardoni M, Di Lenola M, Barra Caracciolo A/titolo:Microbial Ecology for Assessing Structure and Functioning of Communities of Microbes in Different Environments, from Natural Soil and Water to Cultural Heritage/titolo_volume:Sciences and Technologies applied to Cultural Heritage I (STACH 1)/curatori_volume:Baldi M, Capriotti Vittozzi G/editore: /anno:2019 |
| Popis: | Microbial ecology is the study of microbes in the environment and their interactions with each other. Microbes are the smallest and most numerous living organisms on Earth. Despite their small size, natural microbial communities have a huge impact on our environment. They have a key role in biogeochemical cycles (e.g. nitrogen fixation, methane metabolism and sulphur metabolism) and in organic matter degradation. They harbour an amazing physiological versatility and catabolic potential for the breakdown of an enormous number of organic molecules, including xenobiotics, thanks to their great adaptability to different conditions. Natural microbial communities provide several regulating ecosystem services, maintaining soil and water quality1. Soil and water ecosystem recovery from contamination relies on the presence of abundant and diverse microbial communities with the ability to degrade contaminants. Finally, the microbial community structure reflects the impacts of environmental and anthropogenic factors on ecosystems. Even if most natural microbial populations provide benefits to humans (ecosystem services), some microbial processes can have deleterious effects on the conservation of cultural heritage owing to their biodeteriorative potential. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the case of outdoor cultural heritage, which is continuously exposed to abiotic and biotic factors; at the same time, some selected microorganisms and/or enzymes have recently been used for its bio-cleaning and bio-restoration. Microbial ecology makes it possible to study structure-function relationships between microbial communities and their environment at different levels through, for example, the evaluation of microbial abundance, diversity and activity. For example, the knowledge of species involved in the deterioration of cultural heritage can be very useful for managing their conservation, through suitable recovery measures. Trends in modern microbiology emphasize the need to know and understand the structure and function of complex microbial communities. Most types of microbes remain unknown. It is estimated that we know less than 1% of the microbial species on Earth. Yet 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. Culture-independent molecular techniques are valuable tools for investigating the diversity and structure of bacterial communities. These techniques can be used on cultivable as well as non-cultivable bacteria. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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