Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Microbial Communities of the Upper Floridan Aquifer, U.S.A.: Characterization of Their Composition, Activity, and Contributions to Biogeochemical Cycling
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Microbial Communities of the Upper Floridan Aquifer, U.S.A.: Characterization of Their Composition, Activity, and Contributions to Biogeochemical Cycling
Do you wish to request the book?
Microbial Communities of the Upper Floridan Aquifer, U.S.A.: Characterization of Their Composition, Activity, and Contributions to Biogeochemical Cycling
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Dissertation
Microbial Communities of the Upper Floridan Aquifer, U.S.A.: Characterization of Their Composition, Activity, and Contributions to Biogeochemical Cycling
2023
Overview
The Upper Floridan Aquifer is one of the largest and most productive karstic aquifers in the world. However, few research efforts have characterized its microbiology and the links between microbial processes and the aquifer’s geology, geochemistry and hydrology, including their involvement in producing the greenhouse gas N2O, which previous studies have observed to be emitted from this aquifer. Besides, understanding how life thrives in subsurface oligotrophic environments is valuable to guide astrobiology missions in similar settings beyond Earth. One of the particularities of the UFA is the variable degree of interaction with surficial waters, which allows evaluations of mixing effects between DO and organic rich surface waters with oligotrophic subsurface waters. The aim of the present dissertation is to describe those effects on microbial taxa in the UFA and to understand their effects on microbial ecophysiology.Our results show significantly lower biomass (518 ± 83 ng C L-1) and cell numbers (106 -107 cells L-1) in UFA waters than surface waters. In contrast, diversity is high in all locations, with Shannon indexes above 5.5. Taxonomical studies revealed presence of phyla that commonly occur in other karstic subsurface environments as well, and a clear separation between planktonic and surface-attached communities, reflecting the heterogenicity of these habitats.While bulk heterotrophic carbon incorporation rates were two orders of magnitude higher in surface water, comparable doubling times with those of the subsurface indicates that organic carbon quality, rather than just bulk concentration, is key for microbial communities to thrive in conditions of oligotrophy. High DOC quality, together with anoxia, also determine the areas where N2O is consumed by heterotrophic denitrification, which explains previous observations of lower N2O concentrations in low oxygen, long residence time waters.In summary, this dissertation not only provides information that contributes to the global understanding of the microbiology of karstic aquifers, but also represents a foundational stone about microbiological research in the UFA. Data provided here will be very useful to construct several hypotheses to expand the characterization of carbon and nitrogen cycling in the UFA as well as to implicate the public into the aquifer’s protection through outreach projects.
Publisher
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Subject
ISBN
9798293899401
