You are here:
STABILITY AND CHANGE IN ESTUARINE BIOFILM BACTERIAL COMMUNITY DIVERSITY
Citation:
MOSS, J., A. NOCKER, J. E. LEPO, AND R. A. SNYDER. STABILITY AND CHANGE IN ESTUARINE BIOFILM BACTERIAL COMMUNITY DIVERSITY. APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, 72(9):5679-5688, (2006).
Impact/Purpose:
to study Biofilms in aquatic environments
Description:
Biofilms develop on all surfaces in aquatic environments and are defined as matrix-enclosed microbial populations adherent to each other and/or surfaces (1, 31). A substantial part of the microbial activity in nature is associated with surfaces (12). Surface association (biofouling) is an efficient means for bactgeria to proliferate in both favorable and sometimes hostile environments. By adopting a sessile mode of life, microbes can achieve several advantages over their planktonic counterparts (38), including the ability to capture and concentrate nutrients from the water column in the existing exopolysaccharide matrix, cometabolic interactions with neighboring micro-organisms (17), and resistance to harmful chemicsl (2) and environmental stress.