6.7: Concept Check Questions

Microbiology for Earth Scientists · LibreTexts

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    From LibreTexts, under CC BY-SA 4.0, as the source states it; its equations are written in TeX, which the PDF shows typeset. This page at LibreTexts.

    1. Microbial life has been identified at temperatures as high as \(121^{\circ}\mathrm{C}\). Can liquid water be present at that temperature?
    2. Explain how temporal and spatial variation in microbial activity and community composition could be related to temperature.
    3. Where would you expect microbial life to extend deeper into the subsurface, within the sinking plate of a subduction zone or near a divergent plate boundary?
    4. How are psychrophiles adapted to life at cold temperatures?
    5. Would you expect that an organism that is adapted to life under high temperature (e.g., optimum \(80^{\circ}\mathrm{C}\)) to be able to live at a more comfortable temperature of \(20^{\circ}\mathrm{C}\))? Why or why not?
    6. Under what pH conditions do we tend to see the most diverse populations of soil microorganisms? How does pH compare to water and temperature as controls on the diversity of soil microbial communities?
    7. How might groundwater flow influence microbial activity in an aquifer?
    8. If you place a cell from a freshwater environment into a saline environment, its cell wall may rupture. Why?
    9. Where would disturbance have the greatest impact on a microbial community? Rank the following in order of decreasing impact of disturbance: (a) floodplain soil, (b) 10-meter depth in the subsurface of the floodplain, and (c) 100-meter depth in the subsurface of the floodplain.

    This page titled 6.7: Concept Check Questions was last modified on Sun, 31 Mar 2024 22:37:05 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Matthew F Kirk via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.