Observations on the Conditions of Existence of a Green Sulphur Bacterium in Sodon Lake, Southeastern Michigan

Studies on the performance of wastewater stabilization ponds operating in the “grey” area of organic loading between fully anaerobic and facultative conditions show that organic matter removal is still satisfactory. The results obtained revealed that wastewater treatment mechanisms are mainly based on biochemical reactions in the anoxic system. Although physico-chemical mechanisms were not negligible, algal activities in the presence of light proved to be important in the surface layer of the pond and facultative bacteria were working mutually with the algae. Motile flagellate algae (Euglena and Chlamydomonas) were the only species found to exist under anoxic conditions. It was also determined that sulphate-reducing bacteria predominated in the lower volume of the anoxic ponds, rather than acidogenic bacteria, and this caused sulphide and hydrogen sulphide build-up in the pond's contents. The bottom volume of the ponds and the benthic sludge in laboratory-scale anoxic ponds contained acid producers and methanogenic bacteria causing the release of biogas. It is hypothesized that phototrophic bacteria (purple sulphur-, green sulphur- and purple non-sulphur bacteria) act as a biological filter to oxidize sulphide and hydrogen sulphide in the euphotic zone of the anoxic ponds. As a consequence of the latter biological activities, anoxic ponds are likely to prove viable alternatives to anaerobic and facultative ponds, where odour nuisance and high land requirements, respectively, are to be avoided.

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Hole burning study of excited state structure and energy transfer dynamics of bacteriochlorophyll c in chlorosomes of green sulphur photosynthetic bacteria

Photosynthesis Research ◽

10.1007/bf00019052 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Jakub P\>sen\>c�k ◽

Martin V�cha ◽

Franti\>sek Adamec ◽

Milan Ambro\>z ◽

Juraj Dian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Transfer ◽

Excited State ◽

Photosynthetic Bacteria ◽

Hole Burning ◽

State Structure ◽

Bacteriochlorophyll C ◽

Green Sulphur

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How it happened that a portion of a treatise entitled New Improvements of Planting and Gardening both Philosophical and Practical by Richard Bradley FRS, which dealt with blights of trees and plants, provided the first report of an environment that contained green sulphur photosynthetic bacteria

Notes and Records the Royal Society journal of the history of science ◽

10.1098/rsnr.2007.0011 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 61 (3) ◽

pp. 327-332 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Melvin Santer

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Photosynthetic Bacteria ◽

Scientific Literature ◽

Enrichment Culture ◽

Carbon Dioxide Gas ◽

Green Sulphur ◽

Anoxic Environment ◽

First Time ◽

Transmit Disease ◽

Natural Enrichment

Richard Bradley proposed that biological agents caused infectious disease. He agreed that air could transmit disease, but it had to contain a living agent, either visible or microscopic. To dismiss the idea that air alone could cause disease he included evidence provided by Robert Balle about a toxic grotto near Lake Averna, close to Naples, whose fumes were lethal to animals and humans yet that lethality was not contagious and occurred quickly, not a characteristic of ‘pestilential fevers’. In this grotto the surface water was covered with a ‘green scum’, a layer of green sulphur photosynthetic bacteria that could live in that anoxic environment, which contained hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide gas and was accessible to visible light. This environment was a natural enrichment culture for these bacteria. It was the first time that the presence of these bacteria was disclosed in the scientific literature.

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