Microbial Ecology

Microbial ecology is the study of interactions between microorganisms and their environments.  All of the major biogeochemical cycles (for example, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur) are influenced by microbes.  Microbes are key players in primary production (both photosynthetic and chemosynthetic) and decomposition.  Microbes often engage in symbiotic relationships (either positive or negative) with other organisms, and these relationships affect the ecosystem.  They are present in virtually all of our planet's environments, including some of the most extreme, from acidic lakes to the deepest ocean, and from frozen environments to hydrothermal vents.  Because of this broad scope, microbial ecology studies will often overlap other research areas in the USGS, including climate change, geographic patterns, ecosystem function, geomicrobiology, and wildlife disease.  Microbial ecology studies entail the use of conventional microbiological techniques (cultures, microscopy) and modern molecular techniques (polymerase chain reaction, in situ hybridization, analysis, sequencing, microarrays).
Adapted from Wikipedia

Corals Microbiology of Deep Sea Corals, Microarray Technology to Study Mechanisms of Coral Disease	Plant-Microbe Interactions Wetland Sediments; Urban Salt Marsh Restoration
Soil Soil Community Dynamics in Sagebrush Steppe and Cheatgrass-Invaded Sreas of the Northern Great Basin

• Biological Soil Crusts: Webs of Life in the Desert (PDF, 304 KB)
• Development of a Technique for the Rapid Screening of Microbial Diversity in Environmental Samples
• Microbial Ecology in Reef Sediments of Biscayne National Park
• Preliminary Characterization of the Microbial Ecology of the Upper Florida Aquifer and Literature Review of the Microbe-Induced Changes in Metal Mobility and Toxicity during Aquifer Storage and Recovery Testing

Scientists* Belnap, Jayne   DeCrappeo, Nicole M. Foster, Andrea L.   Kellogg, Christina A. Lisle, John T.   Marvin-DiPasquale, Mark C. Rodriguez, Russell J.   Windham-Myers, Lisamarie

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*this list of USGS scientists involved in microbial ecology is likely to be incomplete