Chapter 1 Introduction 7
1.1 Environmental Microbiology as a Discipline 7
1.2 Presence of Microbes in Our lives 9
1.2.1 Microbes in Our Body 9
1.2.2 Microbes in the Atmosphere 9
1.2.3 Microbes in Soil 10
1.2.4 Microbes in Water 10
1.2.5 Microbes of Plants 11
1.2.6 Microbes of Animal Origin 11
1.3 An Historical Perspective 12
1.4 Modern Environmental Microbiology 14
Chapter 2 Non-cellular Life: Viruses 18
2.1 General Characteristics and Classification of Viruses 18
2.1.1 Characteristics of viruses 18
2.1.2 Classification of viruses 18
2.2 Virus Morphology and Structure 19
2.2.1 Morphology and size of virus 20
2.2.2 Chemical composition and structure of virus 20
2.3 Virus Propagation 22
2.3.1 Reproduction process of virus 22
2.3.2 Lysogenicity of virus 23
2.4 Virus Cultivation 24
2.4.1 Culture characteristics of viruses 24
2.4.2 Culture medium for viruses 25
2.4.3 The cultivation of viruses 25
2.5 Resistance to Physical and Chemical Affects and Removal of Virus from Sewage Treatment Processes 27
2.5.1 Resistance of virus to physical factors 27
2.5.2 Resistance of virus to chemical factors 28
2.5.3 Viruses resistant to antibacterial substances 29
2.5.4 Virus survival in environment and its removal in sewage treatment process 29
Chapter 3 Prokaryotic Microorganisms 32
3.1 Bacteria 32
3.1.1 Morphology and size of bacteria 32
3.1.2 Cell structure of bacteria 40
3.1.3 Characteristics of bacterial culture 49
3.1.4 Physical and chemical properties of bacteria 52
3.2 Archaea 56
3.2.1 Characteristics of archaea 57
3.2.2 Classification of archaea 58
3.3 Actinomycetes 61
3.3.1 Morphology and size of actinomycete 62
3.3.2 Colony morphology of actinomycetes 64
3.3.3 Actinomycetes reproduction 64
3.4 Cyanobacteria 64
3.4.1 Chroococcophyceae 66
3.4.2 Hormogonophyceae 66
3.5 Spirochete 66
3.6 Rickettsia and Mycoplasma 67
3.6.1 Rickettsia 67
3.6.2 Mycoplasma 67
Chapter 4 Eukaryotic Microorganism 69
4.1 Protozoa 69
4.1.1 General characteristics of protozoa 69
4.1.2 Classification of protozoa 70
4.1.3 Cyst of protozoa 77
4.2 Miniature Metazoa 77
4.2.1 Rotifer 77
4.2.2 Nematode 79
4.2.3 Oligochaetes 79
4.2.4 Crustacean plankton 79
4.2.5 Bryozoan and Plumatella 80
4.3 Algae 81
4.3.1 General characteristics of algae 81
4.3.2 Classification and characteristics of algae 81
4.4 Fungus 87
4.4.1 Yeast 87
4.4.2 Mold 91
4.4.3 Agaricales 96
Chapter 5 Microbial metabolism 98
5.1 Overview of microbial metabolism 98
5.2 Microbial enzymes and enzymatic reactions 98
5.2.1 The composition of enzyme 99
5.2.2 Several important prothetic groups and coenzymes 99
5.2.3 Structure of zymoprotein 102
5.2.4 Active site of enzyme 103
5.2.5 Catalytic properties of enzyme 103
5.2.6 Factors affect the enzymatic reaction rate 105
5.2.7 Environmental applications of microbial enzymes 108
5.3 Microbial energy metabolism 109
5.3.1 Biological oxidation and energy generation of microorganisms 109
5.3.2 Biological oxidation types and energy-producing metabolism 110
5.3.3 Other metabolic pathways 112
5.4 Microbial anabolism 112
5.4.1 Anabolism of methanogens 112
5.4.2 Anabolism of chemoautotroph 113
5.4.3 Photosynthesis 113
5.4.4 Anabolism of heterotrophic microorganisms 115
References 115
Chapter 6 Microbial nutrition and growth 116
6.1 Microbial nutrition 116
6.1.1 Cellular compositions 116
6.1.2 Nutrients and trophic types of microorganisms 117
6.1.3 Ratio of carbon, nitrogen 122
6.1.4 Types of culture medium 122
6.1.5 The way nutrients enter microbial cells 123
6.2 Microbial growth 125
6.2.1 Microbial growth 126
6.2.2 Microbial cultivation 126
6.2.3 Growth in natural environment 132
6.2.4 Methods for determination of microbial growth 134
6.3 Effects of environmental factors on microbial growth 135
6.3.1 Temperature 135
6.3.2 pH 136
6.3.3 Redox potential 138
6.3.4 Dissolved oxygen 138
6.3.5 Solar radiation 141
6.3.6 Water activity and osmotic pressure 142
6.3.7 Surface tension 143
6.4 Relationship between microbial nutrition and biological wastewater treatment 143
6.4.1 Mechanism of microbial wastewater treatment 143
6.4.2 Microbial purifying functions 143
6.4.3 Biochemical oxygen demand and its application in biological wastewater treatment 144
6.4.4 Nutrient deficiency and biological wastewater treatment 144
6.4.5 Deficiency of trace elements and biological wastewater treatment 145
References 145
Chapter 7 Microbial Genetics and Mutation Objectives 148
7.1 Microbial Genetics 148
7.1.1 Confirmation of Genetic Material 148
7.1.2 The Composition and Structure of Nucleic Acid 149
7.1.3 DNA Replication 153
7.1.4 Denaturation of DNA 156
7.1.5 the Transmission of Genetic Information 157
7.2 Microbial Mutations 159
7.2.1 Mechanisms of mutation 159
7.2.2 Causes of Mutations 160
7.2.3 The main Mutation types of procaryote 160
7.3 Applications of Microbial Genetics in Environment Engineering 164
Chapter 8 Microbial ecology 169
8.1 Ecosystem 169
8.1.1 Ecosystem and biosphere 169
8.1.2 Ecological equilibrium 170
8.1.3 Classification of ecosystem 171
8.2 Soil microbial ecology 171
8.2.1 Ecological conditions in soil 171
8.2.2 Microorganisms in soil 172
8.2.3 Functions of microorganisms in soil 172
8.2.4 Soil contamination and the microbial ecology 173
8.3 Atmospheric microbial ecology 174
8.3.1 Ecological conditions in air 174
8.3.2 Species, amount and distribution of airborne microbes 174
8.3.3 Hygienic standard of air microorganism and biological cleaning technology 175
8.4 Aquatic microbial ecology 175
8.4.1 The aquatic environments 175
8.4.2 Sources of the aquatic microorganisms 175
8.4.3 Some aquatic microorganisms 176
8.4.4 Water pollution and the microbial ecology 177
8.4.5 Eutrophication 179
8.5 Relationships among microorganisms 180
8.5.1 Competition 180
8.5.2 Protocooperation 180
8.5.3 Symbiosis 180
8.5.4 Amensalism 181
8.5.5 Predation 181
8.5.6 Parasitism 181
8.6 Environmental self-purification and pollution control engineering 181
8.6.1 Soil self-purification and remediation 181
8.6.2 Self-purification of water body 184
References 186
Chapter 9 Biogeochemical Cycling 187
9.1 Water Cycle 188
9.2 Carbon Cycle 189
9.2.1 The biological carbon cycle 190
9.2.2 The geological carbon cycle 190
9.3 The nitrogen cycle 191
9.3.1 Nitrogen cycle mechanism 192
9.3.2 Nitrogen cycling in marine ecosystems 192
9.3.3 Human activity affects cycling of nitrogen 193
9.4 Sulfur cycle 193
9.4.1 Mechanism of sulfur cycle 193
9.5 Heavy Metal Cycle 194

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