The composting process involves a succession of different communities of microorganisms that decompose the initial material, transforming it into a stable final product. In this work, the levels of phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA), neutral lipid fatty acid (NLFA) and sterol were monitored in compost versus time, as indicators of the activity of various microorganisms (Gram-positive or Gram-negati...

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was used in the analysis of bacterial respiratory quinone (RQ), bacterial phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA), and archaeal phospholipid ether lipid (PLEL) from anaerobically digested sludge. Bacterial RQ were determined using ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). Determination of bacterial PLFA and archaeal PLEL was simultaneously performed using gas c...

Sediment microorganisms help create and maintain mangrove ecosystems. Although the changes in vegetation during mangrove forest succession have been well studied, the changes in the sediment microbial community during mangrove succession are poorly understood. To investigate the changes in the sediment microbial community during succession of mangroves at Zhanjiang, South China, we used phospho...

Ecological interactions between aboveground and belowground biodiversity have received many attentions in the recent decades. Although soil biodiversity declined with the decrease of plant diversity, many previous studies found plant species identities were more important than plant diversity in controlling soil biodiversity. This study focused on the responses of soil biodiversity to the alter...

Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) indicative of fecal contamination in urban streams and recreational ocean beaches in Santa Barbara, California often exceed recreational water-quality standards. During low flow, FIB and human-specific Bacteroides concentrations in urban streams were associated with point discharges. FIB concentrations varied three-fold during diurnal sampling as a result of small...

We investigated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) alteration of microbial mediation of litter decomposition. AMF (Glomus hoi) were either allowed access to or excluded from Plantago lanceolata L. root litter embedded in soil; litter was labeled with either (13) C only or (13) C and (15) N. Plant N uptake was significantly increased if AMF accessed the litter, and (15) N analysis of the plant m...

Understanding the microbial community structure of agricultural soils is important for better soil management in order to improve soil quality. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis has been popularly used in determining the microbial community structure in different ecosystems. The microbial community structure of paddy soil under long-term fertilizer treatments was investigated after 45 years usin...

The phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) content was determined in samples of Paracoccus denitrificans encapsulated in silica hydrogel films prepared from prepolymerized tetramethoxysilane (TMOS). Immediately after encapsulation the total PLFA concentration was linearly proportional to the optical density (600 nm) of the input microbial suspension (R2 = 0.99). After 7 days this relationship remained ...

Ergosterol and the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) 18:2o6,9 are frequently used as fungal biomarkers in studies on soils, and in accordance with the ideal for biomarkers of microorganisms they are thought to turn over rapidly after cell death and lysis. These biomarkers should also show the same patterns and responses to perturbations of the studied system. Here, I report strong correlations, in...