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Stream Microbial Ecology

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Stream Ecology

Abstract

Microbes include heterotrophs, especially bacteria and fungi that obtain energy from detrital material as well as from organic compounds in the surrounding water, and some autotrophs. They occur on virtually all surfaces in streams as biofilms that include bacteria, fungi, algae, protists, detrital particles, various exudates, exoenzymes, and metabolic products in an organic microlayer. Biofilms are important sites of organic matter processing and nutrient cycling. Organic molecules exuded by actively growing algae can be used by microbes, while microbial decomposition of non-living organic matter releases inorganic compounds beneficial to algal production. Microbial production forms the base of many stream food webs, and the flow of carbon and elements through microbial communities and into higher trophic levels involves complex linkages. Fungi and bacteria aid in the breakdown of organic matter such as autumn-shed leaves, making this energy source accessible to higher trophic levels. The microbial tissue in biofilms is available to a wide range of micro-consumers, including protozoans and small metazoans termed meiofauna. Still relatively under-studied, a food web involving meiofauna exists within biofilms and in plankton assemblages, possibly serving as a link to higher trophic levels, and possibly dissipating most of the energy available within a “microbial loop”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Prof. J. David Allan

  2. Departamento de Ciencias de la Sustentabilidad, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Villahermosa, Tabasco, México

    Maria M. Castillo

  3. Odum School of Ecology and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Krista A. Capps

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  1. Prof. J. David Allan
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  2. Maria M. Castillo
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  3. Krista A. Capps
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Correspondence to J. David Allan .

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Allan, J.D., Castillo, M.M., Capps, K.A. (2021). Stream Microbial Ecology. In: Stream Ecology . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61286-3_8

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