BMT 307: LECTURE 4

Microbial population, and community

Dr. Kamarul Zaman Zarkasi | Ext: 6152 | Room: G08-225| Email: kamarul.zarkasi@usm.my
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Week 2:www.usm.my
22.2.2017
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 MICROBIAL POPULATION
Microbial population is the application of population ecology and
population genetics toward understanding the ecology and evolution of
bacteria, archaebacteria, microscopic fungi (such as yeasts), additional
microscopic eukaryotes (e.g., "protozoa" and algae), and viruses

also encompasses the evolution and ecology of community interactions

(community ecology) between microorganisms, including microbial
coevolution and predator-prey interactions.

In addition, microbial population biology considers microbial interactions

with more macroscopic organisms (e.g., host-parasite interactions),
though strictly this should be more from the perspective of the
microscopic rather than the macroscopic organism.
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• Microbial population is the study of interrelationships between microorganisms
and their living and nonliving environments.

• Microbial populations are able to tolerate and to grow under varying

environmental conditions, including habitats with extreme environmental
conditions such as hot springs and salt lakes.

• Understanding the environmental factors controlling microbial growth and

survival offers insight into the distribution of microorganisms in nature, and
many studies in microbial ecology are concerned with examining the adaptive
features that permit particular microbial species to function in particular
habitats.

• Within habitats some microorganisms are autochthonous (indigenous), filling

the functional niches of the ecosystem, and others are allochthonous (foreign),
surviving in the habitat for a period of time but not filling the ecological niches.

• Because of their diversity and wide distribution, microorganisms are extremely

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important
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• The dynamic interactions between microbial populations
and their surroundings and the metabolic activities of
microorganisms are essential for supporting productivity
and maintaining environmental quality of ecosystems.

• Microorganisms are crucial for the environmental

degradation of liquid and solid wastes and various
pollutants and for maintaining the ecological balance of
ecosystems—essential for preventing environmental
problems such as acid mine drainage and
eutrophication.

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 Development of Microbial Communities Homeostasis and
Succession

• Homeostasis: many established communities have a high degree

of stability

– these communities are resistant to change

– the ability of ecosystem to resist change is described
by homeostasis

• Homeostasis: a compensating mechanism that acts to maintain

steady-state conditions by, variety of control mechanisms, to
counteract perturbations the concept of stable community does
not imply static conditions

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 • Temporal niche: microorganisms may occupy a
niche in a habitat at one particular time but not at
another, some microbial populations exhibit annual
rhythms

** eg: Diatom populations exhibiting seasonal

succession under various temperature and
light regimens

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 Homeostasis and Disturbances

• Seasonal populations
– Just as the community reaches stability the
environment drastically changes

• Catastrophic events
– Volcanos, etc.
– New habitats undergo colonization and succession

• Homeostasis acts to restore disturbed community

– Washing skin removes community
– Succession leads to reestablishing the original
community
– not a new community

• Remove alien or allochthonous microorganisms

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– Pathogen in the gut 7
 Why is microbial population ecology important ?

Basically because few soil processes are carried

out by a single organism alone. Most are carried
out by a group of microbes living together within a
dynamic community. Examples of soil processes
involving more than one organism are:

Inorganic nutrient cycling (N, P, S)

Substrate decomposition (plant litter)

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 The 4 Phases of Microbial
Population Growth

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1. Lag phase

This is the time needed to switch on the necessary cell machinery

to (a). transport the substrate into the cell, and (b), process the
substrate once inside. It normally requires the de novo synthesis
of new enzymes and therefore requires gene transcription and
translation which will take at least a few hours.

2. Exponential phase

The necessary machinery for substrate use are now in place (the
enzymes required to transport the substrate into the cell and the
enzymes required to turn this into energy or new cell material).
The substrate is in plentiful supply. Growth is very rapid and goes
in the following exponential pattern
1 cell…. 2 cells...4 cells….8 cells….16 cells….32 cells 10
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 3. Stationary phase

At this point either the substrate or another

nutrient (e.g. P or N) has become limiting so that
growth is now slowing rapidly as it becomes
harder and harder to obtain the limiting factor.

4. Death phase

The cell starts to run out of energy so they start

to die.

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 MICROBIAL POPULATION

Two important concept:

Succession and
Competition
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Succession
Below is a graph showing succession of three groups of organisms.
Substrate has been added as time = 0 and bacteria have responded by
growing (in 4 phases as described above). As protozoa are triggered
into action by bacteria, they don't start growing until the bacteria are in
exponential phase. They then go through four phase growth. This is
followed similarly by protozoal predators mites. Note that all go through
4 phases of growth and that the population numbers are lower at each
stage. Secondly note that the curves start and finish at different times.
i.e. the time of death is not the same for bacteria and mites. The 3
curves represent from left to right, bacteria, protozoa and mites
repectively

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Competition
Here we have on the surface similarly looking graphs for two fungal species.
However, it is subtly different and is characteristic of competition. Fusarium is
the top curve and Pisolithus the botton curve. Here the substrate has been
added at time =0 and Fusarium has reacted first. Pisolithus, however, can
also use this substrate but it takes longer to turn on the necessary apparatus
for transport (maybe it has only a few membrane receptors for this substrate).
The important point to note, however, is that they both go into stationary
phase and death phase at the same time. This indicates that they are both
using the substrate and that Pisolithus is not using Fusarium as a substrate.
Basically Fusarium has out-competed (higher population) Pisolithus for the
substrate.

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 Microbial populations
Zymogenous

Organisms which grow extremely rapidly when a new substrate arrives

The are 'boom' and 'bust' (i.e. big fluctuations in pop'n numbers)
They are not long lived
They spend most of their time in hibernation (waiting for substrate)
They are more adapted to taking up substrate at high concentrations
They are uncommon in soil (as soil is normally substrate limiting)
They are analogous to 'r strategists'

Autochthonus

Organisms which grow slowly when new substrate is added

Their populations tend to be more stable
They are longer lived
They are more adapted to taking up substrate at low concentrations
They are common in soil
They are analogous to 'K strategists‘
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 Microbial Population

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 Development of Microbial Communities

Homeostasis and Succession: How can many organisms that

compete for the same resources coexist in ecosystems?

• Changing conditions; such as seasonal changes

• Time-varying inputs; such as nutrient availability

• Multiplicity of resources

• Spatial heterogeneity of habitats

• Regulation of population density; predation, dormancy

• Many other factors that can preclude competitive exclusion and

permit coexistence of populations with apparent identical niches

• But we still don’t fully understand functional redundancy. 17

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 Microbial Communities Diversity

• Why is diversity important?

– Functional diversity
– Stability
– More efficient energy production

• Lateral gene transfer increases diversity

– How?

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 Structure of Microbial Communities

• Diversity and stability

• Diversity in biological communities
• Few species with many individuals
• Many species with few individuals
• Dominant species account for most of the energy
flow within a trophic level
• Less abundant species determine the species
diversity of that trophic level and the community.
• Diversity decreases when one or few populations
attain high density (signify successful competition)

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 Structure of Microbial Communities

• Diversity and stability

• Complex diversity
• Information rich
• Requires less energy to maintain structure
• Slower growth, lower primary productivity
• Varied response to change
• Strong unidirectional selection factors (high temp,
salt, low pH…)
• Populations become specialized
• Less flexibility
• Communities dominated by few populations (low
diversity)
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 Why is soil diversity so high?

• Diverse habitat conditions

• Many interspecies interactions

– Greater interspecies adaptation

• Adapts to changes in environment

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 Microbial Diversity Indices

Which population is more diverse?

• Diversity Indices reflect underlying complexity of the community structure

Species Richness
• species richness – variety of organisms • Ratio of number of species to total
number of organisms

Species Evenness
• species evenness – equitability • Proportion of individuals among the
species
• Are there dominant populations? 22
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Genetic Diversity Indices
• Genes can be used to define species or taxon groups (OTU)
– 16S rRNA, whole genomes, functional genes

• Diversity of genes can be used to measure community diversity

– Genetic diversity should mimic community
diversity
(the more organisms the more unique genomes)

Molecular methods for studying diversity

• Genomic Hybridization
– Collect DNA from whole community
– Sheer DNA into fragments
– Denature DNA with heat
– Sample is cooled
– Reannealing is measured with a spectrophotometer
• A260nm
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 Microbes in Macro-communities

• Role of microorganisms in ecosystems

– Microbes

• Biodegradation of organics – recycling C

• Biogeochemical cycling – C, N, S, Fe, etc.

• Plant interactions (rhizobia, pathogens)

• Animal interactions (symbionts, pathogens)

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 Microbial Community Structure and Function

• Active and abundant populations are selected

by their
habitat and population interactions

– Microbial mats - cyanobacteria

– Desert crusts – cyanobacteria

• Different species exist in same location

because they can
use different wavelengths of light.

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 Structure of Microbial Communities Diversity and
stability

• There is no established cause-and-effect

relationship between diversity and stability

• It is clear that no one population is all-important

in a community with high diversity

• It is not clear what level of diversity is necessary

to maintain community stability

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 Microbial Community Dynamics:

Microorganisms do not live in isolation.

• Individual cells reproduce to form clonal populations.

• Clonal populations mix and exchange genetic information.

• Species interact to form communities.

• Communities form large assemblages termed ecosystems

• Ecosystem = organisms + environment

Microbes have attributes that permit the establishment of

self-sustaining assemblages. 27
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 Microbial community structure

Ecological interactions between microbes

• Competition ensures that there is niche differentiation

between populations.

• But despite competition, species with similar

requirements
often co-exist in nature.

• Communities are dynamic and do not exist forever;

microbes change the environment around them

• Microbial communities undergo succession 28

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 Microbial community structure

Microbial community dynamics

• Community structure is strongly influenced by the flow of

energy from one 'compartment' to another.

• Microbial communities are subject to disturbance, which

can provide new opportunities for colonization.

- Many forms of metabolic flexibility and differentiation

shown by micro-organisms are adaptations that allow
them to escape from communities in decline.

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 Thank You

Question?
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