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Environmental microbiology is the scientific study of microorganisms in the environment. This discipline includes air microbiology, soil microbiology and water microbiology.
The vast stores of high-latitude peatland carbon are thought to be resistant to microbial degradation, but a multi-omics investigation suggests this might not be the case.
Engineering natural microbiomes for biotechnological applications remains challenging. Here, the authors present a combinatory top-down and bottom-up framework to engineer natural microbiomes for the construction of function-enhanced synthetic microbiomes.
Zhang et al. propose the ecological status of the ocean by considering microbial diversity, structure, and biogeochemical potential. Ecological status of 32.44% surface ocean will change due to climate change in 2100, assuming no policy intervention.
Emissions of CO2 from drained peat soils with 6- 12% organic C can be as high as those from soils with >12% organic C. This was shown in an incubation study of >100 organic soils, and may have implications for national greenhouse gas inventories.
Diverse microbial polyphenol transformations in thawing permafrost refute the theory that these compounds stabilize soil carbon across Arctic landscapes.
The vast stores of high-latitude peatland carbon are thought to be resistant to microbial degradation, but a multi-omics investigation suggests this might not be the case.
Characterizing bacterial responses to mixtures of chemical pollutants reveals interactive effects among pollutants. Our study highlights the predictability and resilience of microbial responses to complex mixtures of pollutants, offering the potential for improvements in ecotoxicological assessments.
Active hydrothermal vents are hotspots of life in the deep sea, but even after hot springs go extinct, highly productive microbial communities continue to thrive on the chemical energy in the minerals left behind.
In this study, Achberger et al. report that microbial communities of inactive hydrothermal deposits contribute to primary productivity in the deep sea.