Insights into the effects of anthropogenic activities on oil reservoir microbiome and metabolic potential.

Microbial communities have long been observed in oil reservoirs, where the subsurface conditions are major drivers shaping their structure and functions. Furthermore, anthropogenic activities such as water flooding during oil production can affect microbial activities and community compositions in oil reservoirs through the injection of recycled produced water, often associated with biocides. However, it is still unclear to what extent the introduced chemicals and microbes influence the metabolic potential of the subsurface microbiome.

Oil reservoirs, an exceptional habitat for microorganisms.

Microorganisms are present in oil reservoirs around the world where they degrade oil and lead to changes in oil quality. Unfortunately, our knowledge about processes in deep oil reservoirs is limited due to the lack of undisturbed samples. In this review, we discuss the distribution of microorganisms at the oil-water transition zone as well as in water saturated parts of the oil leg and their possible physiological adaptations to abiotic and biotic ecological factors such as temperature, salinity and viruses.

Strain Identity of the Ectomycorrhizal Fungus Is More Important than Richness in Regulating Plant and Fungal Performance under Nutrient Rich Conditions.

Effects of biodiversity on productivity are more likely to be expressed when there is greater potential for niche complementarity. In soil, chemically complex pools of nutrient resources should provide more opportunities for niche complementarity than chemically simple pools. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal genotypes can exhibit substantial variation in nutrient acquisition traits and are key components of soil biodiversity.