BIOLOGY 2EE3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Extracellular Polymeric Substance, Biofilm, Activated Sludge
4 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Biofilm: a thin, slimy film of bacteria that adheres to a surface. Enrichment cultures: medium with specific and known qualities that favor growth of a particular microorganism. Stable isotope probing: technique for tracing fluxes of nutrients in biochemical cycling by microorganisms. A substrate is enriched with a heavier stable isotope that is consumed by the organisms to be studied. Aquatic eutrophication: the process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients that stimulate growth of aquatic plant life usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen. Number of culturable microbes is very low. Conditions can change in microenvironments over short distances. Success of microbes in a niche depends on ability to obtain nutrients to produce energy and biomass. Groups/layers of microbes on a surface that interact with and support each other. Also of practical importance to humans who want to rid a surface of microbes.
