Bacteria in Nature

Any branch of biology depends for its progress on the development of new concepts and to a lesser, but sometimes crucial, extent on the elimination of erroneous notions. Understanding the roles of bacteria required first the observation that such minute creatures existed, and subsequently the exper imental demonstrations that their presence was necessary for the occurrence of particular phenomena. In this first volume, the authors review the development of scientific understanding of the role of microbes as agents of diverse natural processes. Notably absent is a separate review of the history of microbes as agents of disease, a his tory available in many other publications. Regrettably absent is a review of the his tory of microbes as agents of inorganic transformations, a serious omission that resulted from the illness of the prospective author late in the preparation of this volume. The topic will of course be treated in later volumes, although not predominantly in a historical manner. Otherwise, the emphasis in this volume is on the history of understanding interrelationships between modes of bacterial existence and the inanimate environment. These relationships were established long be fore multicellular, differentiated or ganisms appeared as potential microbial habitats, and their recognition and elucidation contributed greatly to the widened appreciation of bacterial di versity and the importance of these simpler creatures to the physiochemical conditions of the biosphere.

Springer Book Archives

1 The Scientific Study of Bacteria, 1780-1980.- How Were the Activities of Bacteria Recognized?.- The Process of Fermentation.- The Growth of Medical Bacteriology.- Bacteria and the Natural Cycles.- Chemical Transformations Carried Out by Bacteria.- Levels of Understanding.- Present and Future.- References.- 2 Anaerobic Biotransformations of Organic Matter.- Abiotic Transformations.- The Advent of Dioxygen.- Human Appreciation of Anaerobiosis.- Pasteur's Great Contributions.- Development of Biochemistry in Relation to Anaerobic Transformations.- Types of Fermentation of Carbohydrates.- Development of Anaerobic Methods.- Categories of Organismic Relationships to Dioxygen.- Methanogenic Fermentations.- Modern Anaerobic Habitats: The Alimentary Tracts of Animals.- Modern Nonalimentary Anaerobic Habitats.- Digestion of Plant Cell Walls.- Transformations of Nitrogenous Materials.- Ultimate Events in Anaerobic Transformations.- Soluble Nutrients in Anaerobic Transformations.- Leakage of Metabolites from Anaerobic Digesters of Wall Materials.- Conclusion.- References.- 3 The Mineralization of Organic Materials under Aerobic Conditions.- History.- The Bacteria.- Stages of Mineralization.- Pathway Structure.- Genetic Organization.- Prospects and Trends in Research.- Conclusions.- References.- 4 Stages in the Recognition of Bacteria Using Light as a Source of Energy.- The Studies of Engelmann on the Responses of Green Algae and of Purple Bacteria to Light.- Winogradsky's Work on the Sulfur Bacteria.- The Contribution of Molisch to the Knowledge of the Purple Bacteria.- Progress in the Study of the Sulfur Bacteria.- The Work of Buder with Purple Sulfur Bacteria.- Van Niel's Broadened Concept of Photosynthesis.- Oxygenic and Anoxygenic Photosynthesis: Solutions to ClassicalProblems.- Structure of the Photosynthetic Apparatus in Purple and Green Bacteria.- Conclusion.- References.- 5 Oxygenic Photosynthesis in Prokaryotes.- From Blue-Green Algae to Cyanobacteria.- Discovery of the Role of Photosynthetic Pigments and Electron Carriers in Cyanobacteria.- Photosynthetic Structures in Cyanobacteria.- Nutritional Adaptations in the Photosynthetic Apparatus.- Facultative Anoxygenic Photosynthesis.- Conclusions.- References.- 6 Consumption of Atmospheric Nitrogen.- Early Observations.- Advances Prior to 1940.- Advent of Isotopic Techniques.- Advent of the Acetylene Reduction Technique.- Current Perspectives and Future Prospects.- References.- 7 The Position of Bacteria and Their Products in Food Webs.- Concepts.- Bacterial Interactions in Food Webs.- Conclusion.- References.- 8 A Comparison of the Roles of Bacteria and Fungi.- Significance of Growth Habit.- Physiological Aspects.- Some Important Microbial Ecosystems.- Conclusions.- References.