Fungi form the biggest microbial biomass and are key drivers of hydrocarbon biodegradation. We here describe standard cultivation methods for fungi that use hydrocarbons either as sole carbon and energy source or co-metabolically degrade them. The methods include both liquid (Protocols 1 and 2) and solid-state cultivation approaches (Protocol 3) as well as a versatile protocol to monitor fungal...

Lipid biomarkers and C fractionation patterns were used to understand the dynamics of carbon cycling during microbial metabolisms in different environments of travertine precipitation (called facies) at Spring AT-1 on Angel Terrace in the Mammoth Hot Springs complex of Yellowstone National Park, USA. Microbial mats that encrust travertine deposits were collected for analyses of lipid biomarkers...

Commercial production of nanoparticles (NP) has created a need for research to support regulation of nanotechnology. In the current study, microbial biofilm communities were developed in rotating annular reactors during continuous exposure to 500 μg L(-1) of each nanomaterial and subjected to multimetric analyses. Scanning transmission X-ray spectromicroscopy (STXM) was used to detect and estim...

Climate-induced changes in soil microbial physiology impact ecosystem carbon (C) storage and alter the rate of CO2 flux from soils to the atmosphere (Allison et al., 2010). The direction and magnitude of these microbial feedbacks depend on changes in saprotrophic bacterial and fungal C allocation in response to altered temperature, precipitation, and nutrient availability. Soil microbes may dif...

Cadmium (Cd) is ubiquitous in the human environment and has toxic effect on soil microbial biomass or its activity, including microbial biomass carbon (C(mic)), dehydrogenase activity (DHA) and basal respiration (BR), etc., C(mic), DHA, BR were used as bioindicators of the toxic effect of Cd in soil. This study was conducted to determine the effects of Cd on soil microbial biomass and its activ...

It is generally predicted that global warming will stimulate primary production and lead to more carbon (C) inputs to soil. However, many studies have found that soil C does not necessarily increase with increased plant litter input. Precipitation has increased in arid central Asia, and is predicted to increase more, so we tested the effects of adding fresh organic matter (FOM) and water on soi...

We examined time-dependent effect of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) at a rate of 2000 mg kg-1 soil on Cynodon dactylon litter (3 g kg-1) decomposition in an arid sandy soil. Overall, heterotrophic cultivable bacterial and fungal colonies, and microbial biomass carbon were significantly decreased in litter-amended soil by the application of nanoparticles after 90 and 180 days of incubation. Ti...

Anthropogenic changes in biodiversity and atmospheric temperature significantly influence ecosystem processes. However, little is known about potential interactive effects of plant diversity and warming on essential ecosystem properties, such as soil microbial functions and element cycling. We studied the effects of orthogonal manipulations of plant diversity (one, four, and 16 species) and war...

Soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stoichiometry is a main driver of ecosystem functioning. Global N enrichment has greatly changed soil C : N ratios, but how altered resource stoichiometry influences the complexity of direct and indirect interactions among plants, soils, and microbial communities has rarely been explored. Here, we investigated the responses of the plant-soil-microbe system to mu...

BACKGROUND Crop residue is an abundant, low-cost plant biomass material available worldwide for use in the microbial production of enzymes, biofuels, and valuable chemicals. However, the diverse chemical composition and complex structure of crop residues are more challenging for efficient degradation by microbes than are homogeneous polysaccharides. In this study, the transcriptional responses ...