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Microbial Responses to Pollution—Ecotoxicology: Introducing the Different Biological Levels

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Microbial Ecotoxicology

Abstract

The environmental pollutions generated by human activities are important concerns that environmental risk assessment procedures have the purpose to evaluate and mitigate the effects. Microorganisms are among the first impacted by human generated pollutions. Furthermore, because they are essential actors in ecosystem functioning the evaluation of the pollution effects on microorganisms is of paramount importance. Their response may serve as proxy to report the effects on, and the recovering capacities of, the ecosystem. The behaviour of microorganisms in response to chemical pollution has been largely studied. In this chapter, we introduce the mechanisms underlying the microbial adaptation capacities involved in response to pollutants . We also discuss the basic knowledge inspiring microbial ecotoxicological tools reporting the pollutant effects that have been developed at the different biological organization levels, from genes and cellular processes to population and microbial community responses.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all partners of the MELODY group for their useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, MELODY Group, Université de Pau et Des Pays de L’Adour, BP 1155, 64013, Pau, France

    Cristiana Cravo-Laureau, Béatrice Lauga, Christine Cagnon & Robert Duran

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  1. Cristiana Cravo-Laureau
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  2. Béatrice Lauga
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  3. Christine Cagnon
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  4. Robert Duran
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Correspondence to Cristiana Cravo-Laureau .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France

    Cristiana Cravo-Laureau

  2. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France

    Christine Cagnon

  3. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France

    Béatrice Lauga

  4. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France

    Robert Duran

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Cravo-Laureau, C., Lauga, B., Cagnon, C., Duran, R. (2017). Microbial Responses to Pollution—Ecotoxicology: Introducing the Different Biological Levels. In: Cravo-Laureau, C., Cagnon, C., Lauga, B., Duran, R. (eds) Microbial Ecotoxicology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61795-4_4

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