Biology 447 Environmental Microbiology

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Introduction Biology 447 Environmental
Microbiology
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Biology 447 Environmental Microbiology
Colin Mayfield

• Room 377E, Biology Building 1
• Phone Ext. 34640
• Email biol447_at_sciborg.uwaterloo.ca

Web Site

Primary http//wvlc.uwaterloo.ca/biology447/ A
lternate http//colin5.uwaterloo.ca
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Biology 447 General Overview of Slide
Presentations

• The Powerpoint-based presentations are based on,
  but not identical to, the lectures given in
  Biology 447.
• The slides and images used are similar to those
  used in the lectures, but are often modified or
  simplified because of the limitations of this
  method of viewing
• Slides often have audio commentaries. You will
  need a sound card in your computer to hear these
  audio files. Some of the sound files are very
  large and will be slow to download from the
  internet if you have a slow connection.
• The audio will play if you click on the speaker
  symbol in the lower right-hand corner
• You may move to the next slide without listening
  to the entire audio track.
• Printed commentary/summaries for each slide are
  sometimes available below each slide.
• To see these slides effectively, you need at
  least a screen with 800 x 600 resolution
  (preferably higher). You can change the scaling
  of the components on the screen by dragging the
  boxes around. You can also change to a
  full-screen presentation by clicking the easel
  symbol on the bottom right-hand corner of the
  slide presentation.

This symbol indicates a hyperlink to associated
information that will be presented in your
default browser (This particular link takes you
to the Home Page for Biology 447 on
http//wvlc.uwaterloo.ca/biology447/)
WebLink
Local Disk Link
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Environmental Microbiology

• Environmental Microbiology is
• The study of the effects of the environment on
  microorganisms and of microorganisms on the
  environment
• This is a LARGE area to cover in just one course
  so the vast majority of Environmental
  Microbiology courses assume that students have
  previous exposure to (at least) basic
  microbiology courses.
• This course assumes some prior knowledge of
• The effects of environmental factors (pH, water
  activity, temperature, oxygen, etc.) on
  microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and algae)
• The basic taxonomy of microorganisms
• The basic physiology, biochemistry and structure
  of microorganisms

More details on useful background microbiology
(and some on-line general microbiology courses)
WebLink
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Environmental Microbiology

• To further restrict the scope of this course,
  most of it will deal with microorganisms in water
  ecosystems. Other microbial ecosystems are dealt
  with in other courses and will be mentioned as
  they pertain to the particular aquatic ecosystem
• The ecosystems studied will be
• Fresh water lakes and rivers Module 1
• The marine ecosystem Module 2
• The estuarine ecosystem Module 3
• The deep subsurface and groundwater Module 6 ,
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• In addition, Modules of the course will deal with
  
• Pathogens in Water Module 4
• Biodegradation Module 5
• Bioremediation Module 8
• since these topics are important in understanding
  the roles of microorganisms in many ecosystems,
  not only aquatic ones.

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Modules

• Each Module dealing with a particular ecosystem
  has a similar format
• A description of the properties of the ecosystem
• A treatment or discussion of any special
  methodologies or difficulties in dealing with
  microorganisms in that ecosystem
• A description of the microorganisms and their
  activities in the ecosystem
• The effects of human activities on the ecosystem
  (including pollution and remediation)
• In most cases it will only be possible to give
  examples for the last topic since a full
  treatment would be far too long.
• One Module (Module 8 - Biological Treatment of
  Soil and Groundwater Bioremediation) is
  unusual. It has more web-based information that
  the others but is dealt with in less detail than
  most of the other topics in the lectures.

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Assignments Announcements

• For details on Assignments, example exams,
  timetables and due dates, visit the web site.
• For announcements, corrections, errata, additions
  to materials, and a list of changes to the web
  site, visit the Announcements section of the
  web site.
• In the Introduction Module on the web
  site, you will find information on the course
  outline, and a lot of peripheral and
  supplementary information.

WebLink
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General Course Introduction

• Biology 447 - General Course Introduction
• Question Why concentrate on Water Issues ?
• Answer Global Water Supply, Use and
  Distribution Issues
• Water covers 70 of the Earth's surface
• Water in the oceans is over 96 of all water on
  Earth
• About 30 of the 105,000 cubic kilometres of
  water that falls by precipitation reaches the
  oceans though river flow.
• 70 is evaporated or transpired by plants
• This leaves only 37,000 cubic kilometres of
  water for distribution to the Earth's population.
  This is about 6000 cubic metres per person per
  year at a population of 6 billion 12,000 litres
  per day per person.
• Unfortunately, that 37,000 cubic kilometres is
  NOT evenly distributed around the Earth' surface.
  
• For instance Canada has over 22 of the Earth's
  standing supply of freshwater (but see later)

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Introduction (continued)

• Two litres of water per person per day will
  sustain life.
• Average consumption is about 250 litres per day
  per capita
• Industrial consumption is about 1500 litres per
  day per capita in the developed countries
• Agricultural consumption can exceed 3000 litres
  per day per capita in hot climates.
• Many other complicating factors such as water
  quality, pollution with inorganic and organic
  chemicals, and contamination with microorganisms
  causing disease

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The Global Hydrologic Cycle - Great Lakes

• Most water is in circulation through evaporation,
  condensation (rain, snow), movement through the
  earth, run-off, stream, river and ocean
  transport.
• Some is essentially locked away in ice and deep
  groundwater reservoirs that release the water
  very slowly.
• A typical, but smaller, hydrologic cycle is that
  for the Great Lakes drainage basin (watershed)
  shown on the next slide

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Great Lakes 2
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Great Lakes 3
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Great Lakes 4
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Great Lakes 5
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Global Hydrology Cycle
GLOBAL HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
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Water in Canada
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Great Lakes
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UN Water Report 1
UN World Day for Water, 1999
1. Clean, safe water can be brought to the 1.4
billion people around the world without it for as
little as 50 per person, which can prevent many
of the 3.35 billion cases of illness and 5.3
million deaths caused each year by unsafe water,
says a United Nations analysis. 2. At any given
time, an estimated one half of people in
developing countries are suffering from diseases
caused either directly by infection through the
consumption of contaminated water or food, or
indirectly by disease-carrying organisms
(vectors), such as mosquitoes, that breed in
water. These diseases include diarrhea,
schistosomiasis, dengue fever, infection by
intestinal worms, malaria, river blindness
(onchocerciasis) and trachoma (which alone causes
almost six million cases of blindness or severe
complications annually). 3. The UN warns that
unless action is stepped up, the number of people
without access to safe water will increase to 2.3
billion by 2025, with the number of those who die
from unsafe water expected to jump sharply as
well. 4. Right now, 20 percent of the world's
population in 30 countries face water shortages,
a figure that will rise to 30 percent of the
world's population, in 50 countries, by 2025,
according to the UN.
WebLink
The complete UN report
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Mortality
Estimates Of Morbidity And Mortality Of
Water-Related Diseases
1 People currently infected. 2 Excluding
Sudan 3 Case of the active disease.
Approximately 5,900,000 cases of blindness or
severe complications of Trachoma occur annually 4
Includes an estimated 270,000 blind 5 Mortality
caused by blindness
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Water Crisis ?
How bad is the water crisis ?

• Every 8 seconds, a child dies from a
  water-related disease
• 50 percent of people in developing countries
  suffer from one or more water-related diseases
• 80 percent of diseases in the developing world
  are caused by contaminated water
• 50 percent of people on earth lack adequate
  sanitation
• 20 percent of freshwater fish species have
  been pushed to the edge of extinction from
  contaminated water.
• Most available fresh water is found in
  developed nations, which have only one-fifth of
  the world's population. Nearly all of the 3
  billion global population increase expected by
  2025 will be in developing countries, where water
  is often already scarce, or comes in monsoons,
  hurricanes and floods, draining off the land
  quickly.

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Waterborne Disease USA
Waterborne Disease Outbreaks in the U.S.A. by
Type of Water Supply System, 1971 to 1994
Red more than 10,000 cases
Data from Center for Disease Control, Atlanta
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Canada

• How much fresh water does Canada have ?
• Canada has 9 of the world's renewable fresh
  water.
• We are often told that Canada has some 20 of
  the world's total freshwater resources.
• However, less than 50 of this about 9 of
  the global supply  is "renewable".
• In addition, much of it is fossil water
  retained in lakes, underground aquifers, and
  glaciers.
• For Canada's 30 million people  about half a
  percent of the world's population  this is still
  a substantial amount per capita.
• But, more than half of this water drains
  northward into the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay.
• As a result, it is unavailable to the 90 of
  the Canadian population who live within
  300 kilometers of the country's southern border.
• That means the remaining supply, while still
  abundant, is heavily used and often overly
  stressed.

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Africa
Example Africa Annual Renewable Water
Resources km3/yr Source P.H. Gleick, 1998,
"The World's water - 1998-1999" (Island Press,
Washington, DC).
Sources a Total natural renewable surface and
groundwater. Typically includes flows from other
countries. (FAO "Natural total renewable water
resources.") b Estimates from Belyaev, Institute
of Geography, USSR (1987). c Estimates from FAO
(1995) "Water Resources of African Countries."
Rome. d Estimates from WRI (1994). See this
source for original data source e Estimates from
Margat (1989), Water International 14 as cited in
Gleick 1993, Table A11. f Estimates from Shahin
(1989), Water International 14 as cited in Gleick
1993, Table A17. g Estimates from Goscomstat,
USSR, 1989 as cited in Gleick 1993, Table A16. h
World Resources Institute 1996 "World Resources"
Oxford Univ. Press. i  New ECE Environmental
Statistical Database. j Estimates from FAO (1997)
"Water Resources of the Near East Region A
Review." Rome. Estimates from FAO (1997)
"Irrigation in the Countries of the Former Soviet
Union in Figures." Rome.
Country Water Resources Year
Source
Country Water Resources Year
Source
Liberia 232.0 1987 bLibya 0.6 1997
c,Madagascar 337.0 1984 cMalawi 18.7 1994
cMali 67.0 1987 bMauritania 11.4 1997
c,jMauritius 2.2 1974 cMorocco 30.0 1997
c,jMozambique 216.0 1992 cNamibia 45.5 1991
cNiger 32.5 1988 cNigeria 280.0 1987
bRwanda 6.3 1993 cSenegal 39.4 1987 bSierra
Leone 160.0 1987 bSomalia 15.7 1997 jSouth
Africa 50.0 1990 cSudan 154.0 1997
c,jSwaziland 4.5 1987 bTanzania 89.0 1994
cTogo 11.5 1987 bTunisia 4.1 1997
jUganda 66.0 1970 cZambia 116.0 1994
cZimbabwe 20.0 1987 b Canada 2901.0 1980
dUnited States of America 2478.0 1985
dChina 2800.0 1980 dIsrael 2.2 1986 d
Algeria 14.3 1997 c,jAngola 84.0 1987
bBenin 25.8 1994 cBotswana 14.7 1992
cBurkina Faso 17.5 1992 cBurundi 3.6 1987
bCameroon 268.0 1987 bCape Verde
0.3 1990 cCentral African Republic 141.0 1987
bChad 43.0 1987 bComoros 1.0 1987
bCongo 832.0 1987 bCongo, Democratic
Republic (formerly Zaire) 1,019.0 1990 c Cote
D'Ivoire 77.7 1987 bDjibouti 0.3 1997
jEgypt 86.8 1997 jEquatorial Guinea 30.0 1987
bEritrea 8.8 1990 cEthiopia 110.0 1987
bGabon 164.0 1987 bGambia 8.0 1982
cGhana 53.0 1970 cGuinea 226.0 1987
bGuinea-Bissau 27.0 1991 cKenya 30.2 1990
cLesotho 5.2 1987 b
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World
Access to Safe Drinking Water Sanitation in
Developing Countries by Region,1994 Source P.H.
Gleick, 1998, "The World's Water 1998-1999"
(Island Press, Washington, DC).
Access to Sanitation, 1994 Number Unserved
(millions)
464 176 2206 26 2873
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UN Water Report 2
Access to safe water/sanitation, life expectancy
and under-5 mortality
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UN Water Report 3
The more fortunate countries !
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Local Water Supplies

• Surface water from the Grand River is pumped to
  the Mannheim Water Treatment Plant (WTP), where
  it is purified, disinfected and blended with
  groundwater before it is distributed to residents
  in the Region.
• About 12 percent of the total annual water supply
  currently comes from the Mannheim WTP and the
  remaining 88 percent comes from 126 groundwater
  wells.
• Kitchener, Waterloo, St. Jacobs and Elmira
  residents receive a blend of groundwater and
  treated surface water.
• The City of Cambridge currently gets all of its
  water from wells, although water can be supplied
  from Kitchener if necessary.
• Residents in the townships of Woolwich,
  Wellesley, Wilmot and North Dumfries receive
  their water only from groundwater wells.
• Reservoirs are located throughout the Region to
  provide water storage for fire protection, high
  water demand, pressure control and disinfection.
• The Region of Waterloo had an outbreak of
  Cryptosporidium (protozoan)-caused illness
  recently
• monograph about Cryptosporidium in water

WebLink
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Walkerton
And then there was Walkerton ! We will get back
to Walkerton in Module 4
Link to Web pages on the Walkerton outbreak, the
Commission studying the events, and background
information on Escherichia coli O157
WebLink
Web - wvlc
End of Section