Implications of Resource-Ratio Theory for Microbial Ecology

Abstract

Microorgranisms are an essential component of the biosphere, taking part in a myriad of biogeochemical transformations, and playing a vital role in the processing of energy and in the cycling of materials. Microbes also interact strongly with plant and animal populations, both in their roles as agents of disease and as symbiotic associations. In the more than 100 years since the pioneering work of Pasteur and Koch, microbiologists have accumulated an immense body of knowledge on the structure, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and physiology of microbes that is arguably second to no other group of organisms. Moreover, as has been stressed by Atlas et al. (1992), microbiology also is a historic and essential element of the science of ecology. Microbial ecology has become a well-established area of research, based on proven principles and tested techniques that enable changes in physical, chemical, and biological aspects of the environment to be understood as well as monitored (Atlas et al., 1992).