Bioremediation Ecology: Fundamental Relationships Between Bioavailability Gradients and Diversity of Contaminant-Degrading Microorganisms

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9729857 Ward Most naturally occurring microorganisms have never been cultivated, probably because culture media poorly reflect the microenvironmental conditions in which microorganisms live in nature. Molecular biology approaches are however, beginning to reveal principals of the ecology of the dominant members of microbial communities, which are leading to their cultivation. We have begun a program of "bioremediation ecology" to evaluate whether fundamental principles of chemical behavior and microbial ecology lead to a more predictive knowledge of how to manage contaminant spills. We have shown that unique contaminant-degrading microorganisms can be cultivated in media which simulates the low-bioavailability microenvironments resulting from contaminant sorption to soil organism matter. Here, we will examine their fitness relative to contaminant-degrading microorganisms cultivated in unrealistic medium environments. Spills occur as mixtures, yet most contaminant-degrading microogranisms are cultivated on purifies contaminants. We will examine whether increasing complexity of contaminant mixtures, and their interactions with realistic organic-matter microenvironments, increases niche diversity, thereby increasing the diversity of specialized contaminants-degrading microorganisms need for effective in situ bioremediation. Such results have the potential to change the way we think about the microbial ecology of bioremediation, by identifying the most-fit microbial populations and understanding their specializations a basis for their successful manipulation.