Microbiology – Lecture 3

IV. ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY

Exercise 1. Fill in the blanks with suitable words in the box below (Vocabulary).
Microorganisms (1)….…… everywhere on Earth. An adult human body contains 10 times as many
microbial cells as mammalian cells, consisting of approximately 1.25 kg of microbial (2)…………….
Although the study of microbial inhabitants of humans resides within clinical microbiology, it was the
discovery of environmental (3)……………. microorganisms that invaded the human body that resulted
in the beginning of environmental microbiology. These roots were enabled by the work of Louis
Pasteur and Robert Koch, who developed the Germ Theory of Disease in the 1870s, following which,
the presence of (4)…………….. human pathogens then became the initial focus of environmental
microbiology. In developed countries, applied environmental studies related to drinking water and
wastewater treatment dramatically reduced bacterial waterborne disease. However, other microbial
agents such as (5)……………. and (6)………………., which are more resistant to (7)…………….. than
enteric bacteria, still cause problems, resulting in water quality continuing to be a major focus in
environmental microbiology. There is an estimated 20,000,000 cases of illness per year due to
drinking (8)…………………. water. The largest waterborne outbreak of disease in the United States
occurred in 1993, when over 400,000 people became ill and around 100 died in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, due to the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium. In developing countries, poor (9)
……………… resulting from a lack of water and wastewater (10)………………. still results in millions
of (11)……………… annually.
Controlling the (12)…………….. of our food supply also continues to be a concern; and the Centers
for Disease Control estimates that in the United States each year there are 48 million cases with
128,000 people hospitalized and 3000 deaths. The third most deadly (13)……………. of foodborne
infection in the United States occurred in 2011, when 29 persons died from Listeria contamination of
cantaloupe.

pathogenic fungi sanitation waterborne

protozoa occur disease disinfection
contaminated viruses biomass pollution
outbreak deaths contamination treatment

Exercise 2. Answer the questions (Listening skill)

1. What are the key words that you found?

2. What is the main topic of the conversation?
3. What makes archaea different from other living organisms?
4. What is the study of animal?
5. What are the characteristics of Eukaryote?

Exercise 3. Retell/summarize the following paragraphs (Reading + Speaking skills)

Life would not be possible without producers, because they provide the fundamental energy
source that drives the trophic pyramid. Producers are the only organisms in an ecosystem that can
synthesize organic carbon compounds such as glucose by assimilating (fixing) inorganic carbon (CO2)
from the atmosphere. Being able to use CO2 as a sole carbon source means that producers are
autotrophs. Most of them are photoautotrophs, such as plants and cyanobacteria, that convert the
sun’s energy into chemical bond energy. A smaller but not less important amount of CO2 assimilation
is brought about by bacteria called chemoautotrophs. These organisms derive energy from simple in-
organic compounds such as ammonia, sulfides, and hydrogen by using redox reactions. In certain
ecosystems, chemoautotrophs are the only primary producers that support the energy pyramid.
Consumers feed on other living organisms and obtain energy from bonds present in the organic
substrates they contain. The category includes animals, protozoa, fungi, and some bacteria. A
pyramid usually has several levels of consumers.
Decomposers, primarily microbes inhabiting soil and water, break down and absorb the organic matter
of dead organisms, including plants, animals, and other microorganisms. Because of their biological
function, decomposers are active at all levels of the food pyramid. Without this important nutritional
class of sap- robes, the biosphere would stagnate and die. The work of decom- posers is to break
organic matter down into inorganic minerals and gases that can be cycled back into the ecosystem,
especially for the use of primary producers. This process, also termed mineralization, is so efficient
that almost all biological compounds can be reduced by some type of decomposer. Numerous
microorganisms decompose cellulose and lignin, polysaccharides from plant cell walls that account for
the vast bulk of detritus in soil and water. Complex macromolecules from animal and plant bodies are
also broken down by an assortment of bacteria and fungi. Surprisingly, decomposers can also break
down most human-made compounds that are not naturally found on earth. This process is referred to
as bioremediation, which often involves several types of microbes known as a consortium that
collectively decompose and mineralize substances.
Life on Earth also depends on the biogeochemical cycles that are microbially driven. For
example, carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere during photosynthesis by both plants and
photosynthetic microbes. The result of this process is that carbon dioxide is converted into organic
carbon building blocks as plant or microbial biomass, which ultimately results in the formation of
organic matter. Fortunately, this organic matter is ultimately degraded by microorganisms via
respiratory processes, which again release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Without microbial
respiration, a vast array of organic matter would accumulate. Similar biogeochemical processes exist
for all other elements, and are also driven by microorganisms. All life on Earth is dependent on these
biogeochemical cycles. In addition, these cycles can benefit human activity, as in the case of
remediation of organic and metal pollutants, or be detrimental, as in the formation of nitrous oxide
which can deplete Earth’s ozone layer.
A major indirect effect of environmental microbes may be the influence of soil microbes on
global warming. However, currently there is still debate about the net impact of microbes on this
process. Soils can be a source of “greenhouse gases” such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous
oxide due to microbial respiration, or they can be a sink for carbon due to enhanced photosynthetic
activity and subsequent carbon sequestration. Although the debate has yet to be resolved, it is clear
that even relatively small changes in soil carbon storage could significantly affect the global carbon
balance and global warming. In turn, many scientists believe that continued global warming will
ultimately have catastrophic impacts on human health via extreme weather events and natural
disasters.