Graduate Courses

BIOL 54900 Microbial Ecology

Session Offered:

Spring Credit 2.0

Prerequisites:

BIOL 43800, May not be enrolled as the following classifications: Freshman 0-14 hours, Freshman 15-29 hours, Sophomore 30-44 hours and Sophomore 45-59 hours.

Description:

The course will cover a small number of topics in which there has been extensive recent research and emphasizes the physiological responses made by microorganisms to their environment.  The topics include the adaptations made to nutrient limitation and starvation, microbial utilization of xenobiotic compounds, techniques to measure microbial activities in natural environments, metabolic interactions between microbes and other organisms, and the interdependence of microbial, physical, and chemical factors in aquatic ecosystems. Bacteriophage and their role in the environment will also be addressed.  Reading assignments will be made from review articles and primary research articles relevant to the topics.  There will be several class projects that will use molecular methods for evaluating bacterial community structure and the use of bioluminescent organisms for in situ monitoring of microbial physiology and nutrient bioavailability.

Instructor(s):

BRUCE APPLEGATE

E-mail:

applegate@purdue.edu

Textbook(s):

Spring Textbook list PDF Word

Notes:

This is an alternating year course. Next offerings Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024. 

Course Format:

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