Hobart

Seminar Abstract

Friday 9 April 2010, 11.30am (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Deepak Kumaresan
OCE Postdoctoral Fellow in the Marine Biogeochemistry Program and the WfO Flagship
CSIRO, Hobart

Molecular ecology of methanotrophs in a landfill cover soil

Landfills are an important anthropogenic source of methane. Landfill cover soils are a rich environment sustaining active methane oxidizing bacteria (methanotroph) populations above landfills that could potentially oxidize up to 100% of the methane produced in the landfill. This project investigated the hypothesis that the addition of earthworms to landfill cover soil stimulates indigenous methane oxidizing microbial communities and results in enhanced methane oxidation. The project’s aim was to understand the interactions between earthworms and active methanotrophs diversity. This study used recent developments in Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) - both DNA and RNA SIP, using cultivation-independent phylogenetic (16S rRNA) and functional (pmoA, mmoX and mxaF) genes analyses to determine methanotroph diversity.

Understanding spatio-temporal distribution pattern of microorganisms and the factors influencing their distribution pattern are integral for a better understanding of microbial functions in ecosystems. A pmoA-based microarray analysis of methanotrophs community structure was carried to determine their spatio-temporal distribution in the landfill cover soil. Correlation analysis between soil abiotic parameters and distribution of methanotrophs were also carried out.

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Location:
CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
To schedule a seminar, contact:
Clothilde Langlais, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5399
Natalie Kelly, (Biology/Modelling seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research 0438 452 483
Jillian Enraght-Moony, (seminar administrator) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5320
Communications Manager, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 2265
Margaret Hazelwood, Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS) University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2971

Last updated 16/03/10