Séminaire Site Buffon - Vendredi 28 mars 2014 à 11 h

IMPMC - Site Buffon - 63, rue Buffon, Paris 5e

Salle des collections

Microbial biofilm communities on marine and freshwater carbonates, including extreme environments

Stjepko Golubic, Department of Biology, Boston University, USA

Abstract

Microbial biofilms are increasingly recognized as sites of intensive bio-geo-chemical interactions so that  formation, modification and destruction of mineral matters are often directly affected by microbial activities. Such insights blur the distinction between biogenic and abiogenic causative agents that affect sediments. The interplays between physico-chemical and biotic activities involve microorganisms with different metabolic requirements and they operate at different scales. Examples of specific adaptations to extreme environmental conditions range from those that integrate into complex microbial communities in support of other members to those that create such extreme conditions against their competitors.  A similar spectrum of microbial activities affects the sediments: from biofilms that promote sediment consolidation to those that contribute to destruction of sedimentary rocks. We concentrate on microbial primary producers, but consider their role within the overall ecological context.