by Roberto — In last Monday's post I presented Mike Vellend's "Theory of Community Ecology," which posits that selection, drift, speciation, and dispersal are the processes that interact to determine community dynamics. Today I'm going to expand on the process of "ecological drift." What is that? Read more →
Microbial Community Ecology
by Roberto — Many present-day microbial ecology studies involve some sort of sequencing effort to determine which microbes are present in a sample. It seems that during the last three decades, every conceivable ecosystem of Earth and its inhabitants has been thus explored. But, what have we learned? Read more →
On the Origin of (the Word) Species
by Roberto — Systematic classification of organisms is a fundamental part of biology. Yet, despite its being essential, the species concept has a problem; there is still no universally accepted definition. Read more →
Traveling E. coli
by Roberto — Whether it is to attend meetings, carry out collaborative research, visit family, or simply explore exotic locations, scientists tend to do a lot of international travel (myself very much included). And one thing we do not want to experience during or after such travel is any sort of intestinal malfunction. Read more →
[da capo] The Tyranny of Phylogeny: An Exhortation
by Elio — (Re-posted today to celebrate Elio's birthday!) There are days when I wish that the Woesian Three Domain scheme were wrong. Not that I would be happier if there were four or five or whatever number of domains. What would please me would be an escape from what I feel is an unnecessarily oppressive way of thinking, the seating… Read more →
A Whiff of Taxonomy – Altiarchaeum hamiconexum
by Roberto — Altiarchaeum hamiconexum is a relatively recent addition to the growing list of microbial primary producers, i.e. those that fix CO2. Its first sightings date back only a little more than twenty years and its ability to fix carbon was recognized only the last decade. And, as so many microbes, it has thus far resisted cultivation. Read more →
Extremely Slow Growth in the Seabed
by Roberto — Estimates are that, at the global scale, there are more microbial cells – maybe 5 x 10^29 – in the seabed than in the water column above. These cells are not just near the seafloor, many of them lie buried deep in the sediment. Very deep indeed, as deep as 2.5 kilometers. And they've been there for a long time, even millions of years. Read more →
Microbes and Methane
by Roberto — If you're looking for a primer on microbes and methane (as was I, recently) I direct you to a timely report from an American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) colloquium on the subject. It's excellent reading as it contains a treasure trove of information along with an impressive list of references, for those who want to take a deeper dive into the subject. Read more →
A Whiff of Taxonomy – Atribacter laminatus
by Christoph — The image is way too large to show it here, but when you join me and Hug et al. (2016) for "A new view of the tree of life" here, you can spot a bunch of names of bacterial phyla in the top left corner that sound unfamiliar. One of those, Atribacteria, is at the top of the column with Aquificae, Calescamantes, ... , Fusobacteria. Atribacter laminatus, the first cultivated representative of the phylum Atribacteria, is the subject... Read more →
A Breath of Fresh Air – More than Just Oxygen
by Mechas — Our lives are stitched from numerous activities, many of which go largely unnoticed. One of these is breathing, which is essential but only occasionally acknowledged. Read more →