Overview

This book provides information about microbial mats, from early fossils to modern mats located in marine and terrestrial environments. Microbial mats – layered biofilms containing different types of cells – are most complex systems in which representatives of various groups of organisms are found together. Among them are cyanobacteria and eukaryotic phototrophs, aerobic heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic bacteria, protozoa, anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria, and other types of microorganisms. These mats are perfect models for biogeochemical processes, such as the cycles of chemical elements, in which a variety of microorganisms cooperate and interact in complex ways. They are often found under extreme conditions and their study contributes to our understanding of extremophilic life. Moreover, microbial mats are models for Precambrian stromatolites; the study of modern microbial mats may provide information on the processes that may have occurred on Earth when prokaryotic life began to spread.

Full Product Details

Author:   Joseph Seckbach ,  Aharon Oren
Publisher:   Springer
Imprint:   Springer
Edition:   2010 ed.
Volume:   14
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.60cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.955kg
ISBN:  

9789400732414

ISBN 10:   9400732414
Pages:   606
Publication Date:   05 September 2012
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

The Nature of Microbial Mats.- What are Microbial Mats?.- Paper from Outer Space – on “Meteorpapier” and Microbial Mats.- Microbial Mats in The Geological Record.- Microbial Mats on the Early Earth: The Archean Rock Record.- Gunflint Chert Microbiota Revisited – Neither Stromatolites, Nor Cyanobacteria.- Paleoenvironmental Context of Microbial Mat-Related Structures in Siliciclastic Rocks.- Microbially Related Structures in Siliciclastic Sediment Resembling Ediacaran Fossils: Examples from India, Ancient and Modern.- Osmotrophic Biofilms: From Modern to Ancient.- Microbial Mats as a Source of Biosignatures.- Molecular Investigations and Experimental Manipulations of Microbial Mats: A View to Paleomicrobial Ecosystems.- Architecture of Archaeal-Dominated Microbial Mats from Cold Seeps in the Black Sea (Dnjepr Canyon, Lower Crimean Shelf).- Marine, Freshwater, and Soil Biofilms.- Biodynamics of Modern Marine Stromatolites.- Entophysalis Mats as Environmental Regulators.- Diversity and Role of Cyanobacteria and Aerobic Heterotrophic Microorganisms in Carbon Cycling in Arid Cyanobacterial Mats.- Ooid Accreting Diatom Communities from the Modern Marine Stromatolites at Highborne Cay, Bahamas.- Exopolymers (Extracellular Polymeric Substances) in Diatom-Dominated Marine Sediment Biofilms.- Microbial Mats from Wind Flats of the Southern Baltic Sea.- Diazotrophic Microbial Mats.- Architectures of Biocomplexity: Lichen-Dominated Soil Crusts and Mats.- Iron and Bacterial Biofilm Development.- Microbial Mats in Extreme Environments.- Mats of Filamentous and Unicellular Cyanobacteria in Hypersaline Environments.- Marine Hypersaline Microcoleus-Dominated Cyanobacterial Mats in the Saltern at Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico: A System-Level Perspective.-Environmental Dynamics, Community Structure and Function in a Hypersaline Microbial Mat.- Biogeochemistry of Carbon Cycling in Hypersaline Mats: Linking the Present to the Past through Biosignatures.- Phototrophic Biofilms from Río Tinto, an Extreme Acidic Environment, The Prokaryotic Component.- Fluvial Bedform Generation by Biofilm Activity in the Berrocal Segment of Río Tinto: Acidic Biofilms and Sedimentation.- Cyanobacterial Mats of the Meltwater Ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf (Antarctica).- Diversity and Ecology of Cyanobacterial Microflora of Antarctic Seepage Habitats: Comparison of King George Island, Shetland Islands, and James Ross Island, NW Weddell Sea, Antarctica.- Microbial Mats And Astrobiology.- Microbial Mats in Antarctica as Models for the Search of Life on the Jovian Moon Europa.- Past, Present, and Future: Microbial Mats as Models for Astrobiological Research.- Outlook and Summary.- Summary and Conclusions.

Reviews

From the reviews: This volume encompasses many aspects of the microbial mats being a valuable source of information and a true working instrument for scientists interested in microbial mats, either beginners or already known in the field. ... attract new people for the study of different aspects of microbial mats students or scientists from other domains. ... the reader finds an excellent resume of the main ideas and topics of this comprehensive and authoritative book on microbial mats, which should be available in every decent scientific library. (Ioan I. Ardelean, Romanian Biochemical Journal, Vol. 48 (1), 2011)

From the reviews: This volume encompasses many aspects of the microbial mats being a valuable source of information and a true working instrument for scientists interested in microbial mats, either beginners or already known in the field. ... attract new people for the study of different aspects of microbial mats students or scientists from other domains. ... the reader finds an excellent resume of the main ideas and topics of this comprehensive and authoritative book on microbial mats, which should be available in every decent scientific library. (Ioan I. Ardelean, Romanian Biochemical Journal, Vol. 48 (1), 2011)

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