scholarly journals Geosocialities, Flow and Renewal in Microbial Rivers

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Serena Zanzu
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Continuous Flow ◽  
Environmental Studies ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Environmental Destruction ◽  
Somatic Therapy ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Human Interventions ◽  
The Face

This article draws on interview data and insights from environmental studies and somatic therapy to argue for the significance of thinking ‘with rivers’ in order to reaffirm human and nonhuman entanglements in the current challenges presented by anthropogenic devastation. River microbial communities are unintelligible and complex entities due to their unclear origin and continuous flow downstream. The account of one environmental scientist is presented to consider how the metaphors of movement used in the riverine context assist in exploring the complicated dynamics of fluid communities facing constantly changing environments I call ‘microbial rivers’. A pollution incident affecting a UK river, where microbial communities responded by growing in number and activity, further illustrates the intersection of communities and ecosystems in their adaptation to troubling human interventions. Engaging with somatic understandings of trauma, this article proposes thinking with flow as a possibility to reimagine the capacity for renewal when experiencing debilitating adversities, thus countering apocalyptic responses of immobility in the face of environmental destruction and inviting novel opportunities for growth for human and nonhuman communities.

scholarly journals Time-series genome-centric analysis unveils bacterial response to operational disturbance in activated sludge

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Victoria Pérez ◽  
Leandro D. Guerrero ◽  
Esteban Orellana ◽  
Eva L. Figuerola ◽  
Leonardo Erijman
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
The Face

ABSTRACTUnderstanding ecosystem response to disturbances and identifying the most critical traits for the maintenance of ecosystem functioning are important goals for microbial community ecology. In this study, we used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and metagenomics to investigate the assembly of bacterial populations in a full-scale municipal activated sludge wastewater treatment plant over a period of three years, including a period of nine month of disturbance, characterized by short-term plant shutdowns. Following the reconstruction of 173 metagenome-assembled genomes, we assessed the functional potential, the number of rRNA gene operons and thein situgrowth rate of microorganisms present throughout the time series. Operational disturbances caused a significant decrease in bacteria with a single copy of the ribosomal RNA (rrn) operon. Despite only moderate differences in resource availability, replication rates were distributed uniformly throughout time, with no differences between disturbed and stable periods. We suggest that the length of the growth lag phase, rather than the growth rate, as the primary driver of selection under disturbed conditions. Thus, the system could maintain its function in the face of disturbance by recruiting bacteria with the capacity to rapidly resume growth under unsteady operating conditions.IMPORTANCEIn this work we investigated the response of microbial communities to disturbances in a full-scale activated sludge wastewater treatment plant over a time-scale that included periods of stability and disturbance. We performed a genome-wide analysis, which allowed us the direct estimation of specific cellular traits, including the rRNA operon copy number and the in situ growth rate of bacteria. This work builds upon recent efforts to incorporate growth efficiency for the understanding of the physiological and ecological processes shaping microbial communities in nature. We found evidence that would suggest that activated sludge could maintain its function in the face of disturbance by recruiting bacteria with the capacity to rapidly resume growth under unsteady operating conditions. This paper provides relevant insights into wastewater treatment process, and may also reveal a key role for growth traits in the adaptive response of bacteria to unsteady environmental conditions.

The Farmer as Conservationist … and Restorationist

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marybeth Lorbiecki
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Studies ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Commercial Use ◽  
The Face ◽  
Electric Fencing ◽  
Drought Resistant ◽  
New Forest ◽  
Solar Powered ◽  
Land Manager ◽  
Forest Farm

The farm lies about two hours away from the Shack but only historic inches away in concept. In the Driftless region of southwest Wisconsin, it bears upon it some of the beautiful contoured crop swirls of Coon Valley, telltale marks of Leopold’s influence. New Forest Farm, started by Mark and Jen Shepard, is restoration agriculture in action. The farm asks the land to do what it is tailored by nature to do best and then trains it artfully, holistically, and prodigiously for personal, natural, and commercial use. From the sky, it looks like a child’s fingerpainting in green, with curlycues and waves of varying shades, dotted with treetop spheres, winding around ridges and swells. Lovely, biologically diverse, and drought resistant. It has pocket ponds with connective rain-irrigation swales cut into the contours following gradual lines of gravity to disperse captured moisture into the roots and soil for storage. In the face of the worst drought since 1933, this farm stood out lush and lively, though the chestnuts, hazelnuts, and fruit trees produced a reduced harvest, saving their energies for survival. On the spring day we visited, three new shaggy, fawn-colored Highland cattle had just arrived—a mother, son, and calf—along with some new solar-powered electric fencing for pasturing paddocks. “The animals get to know the whole thing,” says Peter Allen, the land manager in his early thirties who expounds on the sequential grazing of the cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and turkeys. “They stay for a day in the paddock, and they’re ready to move on to the next when we open the gates.” A PhD student from UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Allen is applying precepts of wildlife and land ecology to the emerging field of restoration agriculture. He’s also a warm host and knowledgeable tour guide, handing out exciting details like the intoxicating cider made here.

Filtration-assisted exchange transfusion using alpha alpha Hb, an erythrocyte substitute

1991 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 1639-1644 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Hess ◽  
C. E. Wade ◽  
R. M. Winslow
Keyword(s):  
Hollow Fiber ◽  
Blood Viscosity ◽  
Continuous Flow ◽  
Volume Expansion ◽  
Exchange Transfusion ◽  
Volume Loss ◽  
Intravascular Volume ◽  
Hemodynamic Stability ◽  
The Face ◽  
Hb Concentration

A method for improving the efficiency of exchange transfusion to evaluate hemoglobin- (Hb) based erythrocyte substitutes is described. The method uses a continuous-flow hollow-fiber plasma separation filter to remove the erythrocytes while returning 75% of the plasma. The removed volume was replaced with a 14-g/dl solution of human Hb cross-linked between the alpha-chains with bis(3,5-dibromosalicyl)fumarate (alpha alpha Hb). Filtration of 2.76 blood vol in anesthetized swine resulted in a 95% reduction of hematocrit and produced a plasma Hb concentration of 7.63 g/dl. Hyperoncotic Hb solutions cause volume expansion, which reduces the efficiency of exchange but provides hemodynamic stability in the face of decreasing blood viscosity and subsequent intravascular volume loss with Hb redistribution. Filtration-assisted exchange transfusion is rapid, conserves valuable modified Hb, and ensures continuous adequate oxygen delivery.

scholarly journals Resilience in the Face of Uncertainty: Sigma Factor B Fine-Tunes Gene Expression To Support Homeostasis in Gram-Positive Bacteria

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (15) ◽  
pp. 4456-4469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Guldimann ◽  
Kathryn J. Boor ◽  
Martin Wiedmann ◽  
Veronica Guariglia-Oropeza
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Sigma Factor ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Regulation Of Gene Expression ◽  
Bacterial Survival ◽  
Gram Positive ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gram Positive Bacteria ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
The Face

ABSTRACTGram-positive bacteria are ubiquitous and diverse microorganisms that can survive and sometimes even thrive in continuously changing environments. The key to such resilience is the ability of members of a population to respond and adjust to dynamic conditions in the environment. In bacteria, such responses and adjustments are mediated, at least in part, through appropriate changes in the bacterial transcriptome in response to the conditions encountered. Resilience is important for bacterial survival in diverse, complex, and rapidly changing environments and requires coordinated networks that integrate individual, mechanistic responses to environmental cues to enable overall metabolic homeostasis. In many Gram-positive bacteria, a key transcriptional regulator of the response to changing environmental conditions is the alternative sigma factor σB. σBhas been characterized in a subset of Gram-positive bacteria, including the generaBacillus,Listeria, andStaphylococcus. Recent insight from next-generation-sequencing results indicates that σB-dependent regulation of gene expression contributes to resilience, i.e., the coordination of complex networks responsive to environmental changes. This review explores contributions of σBto resilience inBacillus,Listeria, andStaphylococcusand illustrates recently described regulatory functions of σB.

scholarly journals Dietary Fiber Hierarchical Specificity: the Missing Link for Predictable and Strong Shifts in Gut Bacterial Communities

mBio ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaisa M. Cantu-Jungles ◽  
Nuseybe Bulut ◽  
Eponine Chambry ◽  
Andrea Ruthes ◽  
Marcello Iacomini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Dietary Fiber ◽  
Bacterial Communities ◽  
Interindividual Variability ◽  
High Specificity ◽  
Competitive Interactions ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
The Face

In the face of interindividual variability and complexity of gut microbial communities, prediction of outcomes from a given fiber utilized by many microbes would require a sophisticated comprehension of all competitive interactions that occur in the gut. Results presented here suggest that high-specificity fibers potentially circumvent the competitive scope in the gut for fiber utilization, providing a promising path to targeted and predictable microbial shifts in different individuals.

Transient populations in the British conservation priority lichen,Cladonia botrytes

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca YAHR ◽  
Brian J. COPPINS ◽  
Alexandra M. COPPINS
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Conservation Priority ◽  
Regional Survey ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
The Face ◽  
Vegetative Succession ◽  
Adaptive Framework ◽  
Two Populations

AbstractIn the face of changing environments, conservation is tending towards an adaptive framework which accounts for the movement of species in the landscape. This makes it necessary to quantify population dynamics of species of concern. We studied the nationally scarceCladonia botrytes, a priority Biodiversity Action Plan species in Britain, examining population dynamics at two scales: first, we studied the demography for two populations over a period of 13 years. The monitored populations declined to complete absence, starting from 77 mats on 19 stumps. Individual mats persisted maximally for up to 7 years, but over 78% of more than 290 individual cases persisted only 1 year, and more than 93% of mats disappeared within 3 years. Secondly, we performed a targeted regional survey of more than 800 stumps across an additional 27 sites in the centre of the lichen's distribution in Britain in 2006. The largest populations known from 1998 were revisited and found to no longer support the species; only 9 stumps in 5 sites supportedC. botrytesin 2006. We show thatC. botrytesin Britain is characterized by short individual and population persistence times, probably locally dependent upon vegetative succession including overgrowth and shading, and the degree of stump decay. The species' transient nature poses a particular challenge to conservation, though we identify comparable systems from which lessons may be learned.

scholarly journals The Anthropocene, Cli-Fi and Food: Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Esther Muñoz-González ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Environmental Studies ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Ethical Choices ◽  
The Face ◽  
Climate Fiction

This article examines Margaret Atwood’s climate fiction novel MaddAddam (2013), a dystopian cautionary text in which food production and eating become ethical choices related to individual agency and linked to sustainability. In the novel, both mainstream environmentalism and deep ecologism are shown to be insufficient and fundamentally irrelevant in the face of a submissive population, in a state of passivity that environmental studies scholar Stacy Alaimo relates to a scientific and masculinist interpretation of the Anthropocene. The article focuses on edibility as a key element in negotiating identity, belonging, cohabitation and the frontiers of the new MaddAddam postapocalyptic community.

scholarly journals Stability Criteria for Complex Microbial Communities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacey Butler ◽  
James O’Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Microbial Ecology ◽  
Positive Equilibrium ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Stability Criteria ◽  
Small Perturbations ◽  
Pairwise Interactions ◽  
Abiotic Resources ◽  
Mutualistic Interactions ◽  
The Face

AbstractCompetition and mutualism are inevitable processes in microbial ecology, and a central question is which and how many taxa will persist in the face of these interactions. Ecological theory has demonstrated that when direct, pairwise interactions among a group of species are too numerous, or too strong, then the coexistence of these species will be unstable to any slight perturbation. This instability worsens when mutualistic interactions complement competition. Here, we refine and to some extent overturn that understanding, by considering explicitly the resources that microbes consume and produce. In contrast to more complex organisms, microbial cells consume primarily abiotic resources, and mutualistic interactions are often mediated by these same abiotic resources through the mechanism of cross-feeding. Our model therefore considers the consumption and production of a set of abiotic resources by a group of microbial species. We show that if microbes consume, but do not produce resources, then any positive equilibrium will always be stable to small perturbations. We go on to show that in the presence of crossfeeding, stability is no longer guaranteed. However, stability still holds when mutualistic interations are either symmetric, or sufficiently weak.

14. An Okanagan Worldview of Society

2020 ◽  
pp. 163-170
Author(s):  
Jeannette Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North America ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Environmental Destruction ◽  
Resilient Communities ◽  
The Face ◽  
Jeannette Armstrong ◽  
Taking Responsibility

This chapter introduces the worldview of the Okanogan people, an indigenous people inhabiting in the northwest of North America. Jeannette Armstrong describes her personal background and experience growing up as a member of the Okanogan community in the Okanogan Valley in British Columbia, Canada. She highlights the importance of intimacy with the land, taking responsibility for relationships, and building resilient communities in the face of cultural and environmental destruction.

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