Microbial life of cave systems / editor, Annette Summers Engel.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Engel, Annette Summers, editor.

Series:

Life in extreme environments ; v. 3.

Life in extreme environments ; volume 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biospeleology.

Cave ecology.

Microbiology.

Cave animals.

Cave plants.

Underground ecology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 335 pages) : illustrations (chiefly colour).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin, Germany ; Boston, [Massachusetts] : De Gruyter, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The earth's subsurface contains abundant and active microbial biomass, living in water, occupying pore space, and colonizing mineral and rock surfaces. Caves are one type of subsurface habitat, being natural, solutionally- or collapse-enlarged openings in rock. Within the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the number of microbiology studies from cave environments to understand cave ecology, cave geology, and even the origins of life. By emphasizing the microbial life of caves, and the ecological processes and geological consequences attributed to microbes, this book provides the first authoritative and comprehensive account of the microbial life of caves for students, professionals, and general readers.

Contents:

Front matter

Preface

Contents

Contributing authors

1. Bringing Microbes into Focus for Speleology: An Introduction

2. Methods for Characterizing Microbial Communities in Caves and Karst: A Review

3. “A Grand, Gloomy, and Peculiar Place”: Microbiology in the Mammoth Cave Region

4. Starving Artists: Bacterial Oligotrophic Heterotrophy in Caves

5. Bacterial and Archaeal Diversity on Cave Speleothem and Rock Surfaces: A Carbonate Cave Case Study from Kartchner Caverns

6. Microbial Slime Curtain Communities of the Nullarbor Caves

7. Microbial Diversity and Manganese Cycling: A Review of Manganese-oxidizing Microbial Cave Communities

8. Microbial Diversity and Ecology of Lava Caves

9. Predicting bacterial diversity in caves associated with sulfuric acid speleogenesis

10. Microbial Life in Unusual Cave Ecosystems Sustained by Chemosynthetic Primary Production

11. The Microbiology of Show Caves, Mines, Tunnels, and Tombs: Implications for Management and Conservation

12. The Diversity and Ecology of Microbes Associated with Lampenflora in Cave and Karst Settings

13. Lascaux Cave: An Example of Fragile Ecological Balance in Subterranean Environments

14. Scientific Data Suggest Altamira Cave Should Remain Closed

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9783110389524 (EPUB)

9783110339888 (PDF)

9783110339888

3110339889

9783110389524

3110389525

OCLC:

979912336