Environmental Microbiology A Laboratory Manual

About this book

The book is organized into three thematic sections: soil microbiology, water microbiology, and environmental biotechnology. The first section includes experiments on the soil as a habitat for microorganisms, and introduces the main types of soil microorganisms, how they interact with the soil, and the techniques used in their analysis. Experiments in the second section cover assays of microbial pathogens - bacteria, viruses, and protozoan parasites -used in food and water quality control as well as an exercise in applied bioremediation of contaminants in water. The final section on biotechnology includes applications of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of bacteria and the use of enrichment cultures and a computer-based, physiological test bank to isolate and identify a bacterium useful in bioremediation.

Contents

Part 1 Basic soil microbiology experiments: moisture content detemination; contact slide assay; filamentous fungi; bacteria and actinomycetes; algae; oxidation of sulphur in soil; dehydrogenase activity of soils; nitrification and denitrification. Part 2 Basic water mcirobiology: coliform detection by MPN; membrane filter technique; detection of bacteriophages; assimilable organic carbon; new methods for the detection of fecal coliforms; detection of coliforms in water food and on surfaces; detection of enteric viruses in water; detection of waterborne parasites. Part 3 Environmental biotehcnology: biodegradation of phenol compounds; enrichment culture and BIOLOG; toxicity testing by use of a bioassay; disinfection methodology through UV light; molecular detection of microbial pathogens via polymerase chain reaction; fingerprinting via arbitrarily primed polymerase chain raction (AP-PCR)

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Biography

Ian L. Pepper is currently the Chair of the Undergraduate Program in Environmental Sciences at the University of Arizona. He was recently named to Who's Who in America for the second year in a row, and in 1994 earned the Researcher of the Year Award in the College of Agriculture at the University of Arizona. In 1994 he was also named as a fellow to the American Society of Agronomy, and he became the Chair of the Soil Biology and Biohemistry Division of the Soil Science Society of America. Pepper is also a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology, and has been a member of the Editorial Board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology for the past nine years. Pepper has also been the author or co-author of numerous published journal articles. Dr. Gerba has 30 years experience in the area of wastewater and waste recycling in agriculture. He has been involved in numerous projects on use of soil aquifer treatment for reuse of domestic wastewater for crop production, composting of domestic solid waste, use of wastewater for fish and shellfish aquiculture, surface water pollution and control from animal feeding operations, reuse of sewage sludge on farm land, and use of wetlands for recycling of animal waste. His expertise is in the area of pathogen fate and removal by treatment processes and risk assessment. He has served on numerous local, state, and federal committees and expert workshops for the development of standards and guidelines for the treatment and recycling of wastes to minimize environmental impacts. He was a member of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency s Science Advisory Board for 8 years. He has organized and participated in workshops on food and water safety throughout the U.S. and Latin America. He has co-authored nine workshop training manuals.