Biotechnology: Annotated Bibliography

The increase in pollution over the past century is of little surprise to many. Mankind has made great strides in such a short time, however, with these great strides, there are consequences. With the advancement of technology and the ability to harvest different sources of energies, there has been a rise in the amount of wastes and pollution. Actions that most people don’t even consider, such as driving their car and using fertilizers are mundane actions that may not seem like much, but they too, contribute to pollution. Eventually, many types of pollution and waste make their way to the ocean. Therefore, pollution has a significant impact on the ocean and marine life.

The Ocean. Commonly known, as the big blue is one of the most ecologically diverse habitats on earth. It is home to 7000,000 million different species, all of which directly rely on the stability and natural habitats, which exist around the globe. In fact, over two thirds of the species living in the ocean are unknown (DNews). The industrial revolution changed the world for the better; the industrial revolution introduced hundreds of new products, which changed the way humans live. Throughout this paper we will discuss the causes and solutions to environmental degradation in the ocean.

Using a model they projected the outcomes of a 10-fold increase in existing oyster biomass. This resulted in a system wide reduction of surface chlorophyll, increased dissolved oxygen in summer-average deep water, and added to summer-submerged biomass by removing nitrogen. The influence on pelagic waters was limited. They recommend this de-nitrification method as a supplement to nutrient load reduction. (Cerco CF, Noel MR. 2007.)

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, mankind has slowly increased the total greenhouse gas emissions that enter the atmosphere. Over time, this pollution began to add up. Now planet Earth is struggling to maintain its health with the combined forces of global warming and ocean acidification looking to bring demise. From all portions of the world, troubling changes are emerging in the chemistry of our oceans’ waters. The oceans takes in around a quarter of the Carbon Dioxide that mankind releases into the atmosphere every year, so as atmospheric Carbon Dioxide levels rise, so do the

The authors of the article starts by explaining ocean acidification, the aftermath of excessive carbon dioxide reacting with seawater resulting in carbonic acid, could negatively affect one of the core strategies of survival: sex (p.68). As the ocean decreases in pH level, marine life is impeded and interfered. Shells and skeletons of clams and mussels become harder to develop and the health of countless organisms are threatened. Although the oceans absorb one-third of all CO2 produced by humans thus reducing global warming, it is at the expense of organisms in the sea (p.69).

Global declines in coral reef abundance are closely associated with increasing human pressures (Hughes et al., 2003 and Pandolfi et al., 2003). Projected trends of ocean warming and acidification will exacerbate coral reef degradation, creating adverse human and ecological consequences in locations such as the Hawaiian Islands where economic benefits of coral reefs are estimated to exceed $360 million yr−1 (Cesar and Van Beukering, 2004 and Nicholls et al., 2007). Corals face additional local stressors which may intensify climate change induced effects and act synergistically to alter benthic community structure (Ateweberhan et al., 2013 and Smith et al., 2001). The impact of local stressors such as water pollution on coral health will rise as anthropogenic disturbances persist in the coastal environment.

Sometimes called “climate change’s equivalently destructive twin”, ocean acidification is becoming more and more noticeable as the seawater’s changing chemistry begins to cause environmental and economical problems. When the Industrial Revolution began around 1760, fossil fuel–powered machines gained an immense amount of accessibility and popularity. Since then, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere have risen enough to change the pH of the world’s oceans. Given that the ocean absorbs almost half of the CO2 that is released into our atmosphere, ocean acidification is inclining into an even greater problem as fossil fuels become a more common energy source in our society. Higher acid levels can harm wildlife, disrupt the food chain, and negatively impact industries that rely on the ocean for business. Ocean acidification is causing growing dilemmas for both marine ecosystems and ocean-based economies. Although many companies and organizations are attempting to fix this problem, acidification is still threatening to cause increasingly harmful issues for the future.

Arthrobacter is a dominant genus of bacteria found in soil from all over the world. Several species are even found in places as inhospitable as the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica (Zeglin et al. 2009). This presence in habitats all across the world is made possible because of the extreme adaptability of their genomes to a wide range of environmental conditions (Mongodin et al. 2006). Species that are members of this genus are commonly gram positive, obligate aerobes. Arthrobacter species are also chemoorganotrophs and have an oxidative metabolism (Holt et al. 1994).

A burden which lays on the shoulders of today’s man is that of climate change, namely, global warming. However, this evil has many ignored byproducts, some which are equally detrimental. In this thesis, we will write about the effects of one of the greatest of this, ocean acidification, known as “global warming’s equally evil twin”.

Atmospheric CO2 levels are projected to reach 730 to 1090 ppm by 2100 due to rising anthropogenic CO2 inputs (IPCC 2007, Joos et al., 2001, Meehl et al., 2005, Wigley 2004, Wigley and Raper 2001). Oceanic uptake of CO2 is raising marine pCO2 and lowering pH as the dominant dissolved carbonate species in sea water shift from CO32- and HCO3- towards HCO3- and H2CO3, a process known as ocean acidification (OA) (Qu?r? et al., 2012). Declines in pH and ?aragonite associated with emerging changes in carbonate chemistry due to OA will impact diverse marine biota (Doney et al., 2009).

Dissimilatory (respiratory) metabolisms provide microbes with energy from the reduction of inorganic oxyanions (e.g., NO3-, ClO3-) via the electron transport chain1. Iodate (IO3-) is an example of a thermodynamically stable oxyanion with oxidizing and bioenergetic properties comparable to those of oxygen. Iodate serves as an alternative terminal electron acceptor in the biotic dissimilatory iodate reduction (DIR) to iodide (I-), a process which plays a significant role in marine iodine cycling2,3,4. DIR remains poorly characterized, especially since initial research suggested that iodate reduction only occurs abiotically via photolysis or nitrate

First, we will discuss the basic makeup of the bacteria. A. borkumensis is a rod shaped bacteria with no flagella that was discovered in 1998. It is aerobic and halophilic, meaning it gains energy from oxygen and tends to thrive in salty environments, such as seas and oceans. Also, A. borkumensis is considered an alkane degrader, as it can eat alkanes, and use this as a source of energy (Alcanivorax, n.d.). A single A. borkumensis is 2.0 to 3.0 micrometers in length; unless they survived solely on an n-alkane diet, where they were found to only be 1.0 to 1.5 micrometers in length. The bacteria is roughly 0.4 to 0.7 micrometers in diameter (Buss, 2010).

Dr. Roark’s talk, Deep-Sea Coral Perspectives on Ocean Circulation and Mississippi River Drainage Basin Changes, discusses the correlation between agro-industrialization and land-use changes and how these factors influence ocean biogeochemical cycles. He uses multiple elements, but mainly radiocarbon and Rhenium accumulation in deep-sea black corals to determine ocean circulation. The black corals retain these elements because the feeding matter they take in is exported organic matter from the surface ocean. He ends his lecture by suggesting future studies such as recovery rates of deep-sea corals after the impacts of fishing.

As most of the lakes in third pole region are pristine and oligotrophic (Wu et al., 2010), bacterial communities are unequivocally affected by the general accessibility of electron acceptors, oxidation and reduction of compounds, and the availability of organic matters from surroundings (Newton et al., 2011). Several authors revealed multiple factors playing role in the bacterial community structure in lake-water of this region. Lake primary production, pH, temperature, regional and landscape level factors (Liu et al. 2009), lake water turbidity (Sommaruga & Casamayor, 2009), and salinity (Dai et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2012;). Similarly, pH, dissolved organic carbon, and ammonia was suggested as the major environmental and chemical factors for ammonia oxidizing bacteria (Yang et al., 2016). Bacterial community in lake sediments was found to be affected by pH and geographical distance (Xiong et al., 2012). (Liu et al., 2017), recently highlighted the significant role of Carbon: Nitrogen ratio in shifting the dominant bacterial group in Kalakuli Lake.

1School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; and 2Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy, Ministry