Microbial interactions are ubiquitous, diverse, critically important in the function of any biological community, and are crucial in global biogeochemistry.
Keywords: diversity; interactions; microorganisms; aquatic soil
Microbial Interactions
Slava S Epstein, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Published online: May 2003
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003285
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Figure 1. Fluorescence of methanogenic syntrophic partners of an anaerobic marine ciliate Metopus (length, 120 m).
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Figure 2. Major interactions between members of marine planktonic communities: microbial loop links (red); ‘classical’ food chain (yellow); links the importance of which became apparent only very recently (green). Dashed lines indicate links that are at present difficult to quantify.
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| References | |
| Azam F, Fenchel T, Field JG, et al. (1983) The ecological role of water column microbes in the sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 10: 257–263. | |
| Boyd PW, Watson AJ, Law CS, et al. (2000) A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron fertilization. Nature 407: 695–702. | |
| Chisholm SW, Olson RJ, Zettler ER, et al. (1988) A novel free-living prochlorophyte abundant in the oceanic euphotic zone. Nature 334: 340–343. | |
| Epstein SS (1997) Microbial food webs in marine sediments. Parts I & II. Microbial Ecology 34: 188–209. | |
| Finlay BJ and Fenchel T (1992) Methanogens and other bacteria as symbionts of free-living anaerobic ciliates. Symbiosis 14: 375–390. | |
| Jørgensen BB and Des Marais DJ (1986) Competition for sulfide among colorless and purple sulfur bacteria in cyanobacterial mats. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 38: 179–186. | |
| Pace ML and Cole JJ (1994) Comparative and experimental approaches to top-down and bottom-up regulation of bacteria. Microbial Ecology 28: 181–193. | |
| Sherr EB and Sherr BF (1994) Bacterivory and herbivory: key roles of phagotrophic protists in pelagic food webs. Microbial Ecology 28: 223–235. | |
| Stevens TO and McKinley JP (1995) Lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystems in deep basalt aquifers. Science 270: 450–454. | |
| Van Bruggen JJA, Van Rens GLM, Geertman EJM, et al. (1988) Isolation of a methanogenic endosymbiont of the sapropelic amoeba Pelomyxa palustris Greef. Journal of Protozoology 35: 20–23. | |
| Further Reading | |
| book Alexander M (1977) Introduction to Soil Microbiology, 2nd edn. New York: Wiley. | |
| book Atlas MR and Bartha R (1998) Microbial Ecology, 4th edn. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings. | |
| Bratbak G, Thingstad F and Heldal M (1994) Viruses and the microbial loop. Microbial Ecology 28: 209–221. | |
| book Fenchel T and Finlay B (1995) Ecology and Evolution in Anoxic Worlds. New York: Oxford University Press. | |
| book Fenchel T, King GM and Blackburn TH (1998) Bacterial Biogeochemistry. San Diego: Academic Press. | |
| book Rheinheimer G (1994) Aquatic Microbiology, 4th edn. New York: Wiley. | |
