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Egalitarianism in Biofilms

Microbial Ecology volume 76, pages 49–51 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Microbial biofilms are multicellular communities of sessile microorganisms encased by the hydrated polymeric matrix. They have significant influences on both aquatic/terrestrial ecosystem and anthropogenic activities. Taking advantage of the governing features of selective stress (Tan and Ng in Water Res 42:1122–1132, 2008; Wei in Water Res 45:863–871, 2011; Dereli in Water Res 59C:11–22, 2014), the evenness of microbial communities in a membrane-centered mesocosm was successfully manipulated. By measuring the biofilm growing rates under different evenness levels of communities, an evenly distributed community favors the formation of biofilms was observed. This finding is not only a new evidence linking biofilm diversity to its functionality but also a clear suggestion on controlling a biofilm-based process via a simple and smart way.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (No. ZD201412) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21177033).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Dawen Gao, Yu Tao, Yuan Fu & Hong Liang

Authors
  1. Dawen Gao
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  2. Yu Tao
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  3. Yuan Fu
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  4. Hong Liang
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Contributions

D.G. designed the experiments. Y.F. performed the experiments. D.G., Y.T., Y.F., and H.L. analyzed the data. D.G. and Y.T. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dawen Gao.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Cite this article

Gao, D., Tao, Y., Fu, Y. et al. Egalitarianism in Biofilms. Microb Ecol 76, 49–51 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-018-1173-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-018-1173-5

Keywords

  • Biofouling
  • Biofilm
  • Microbial ecology
  • Community evenness