Drivers of stability and transience in composition-functioning links during serial propagation of litter-decomposing microbial communities.

Biotic factors that influence the temporal stability of microbial community functioning are an emerging research focus for the control of natural and engineered systems. The discovery of common features within community ensembles that differ in functional stability over time is a starting point to explore biotic factors. We serially propagated a suite of soil microbial communities through five generations of 28-day microcosm incubations to examine microbial community compositional and functional stability during plant litter decomposition.

Digital Proxy of a Bio-Reactor (DIYBOT) combines sensor data and data analytics to improve greywater treatment and wastewater management systems.

Technologies to treat wastewater in decentralized systems are critical for sustainable development. Bioreactors are suitable for low-energy removal of inorganic and organic compounds, particularly for non-potable applications where a small footprint is required. One of the main problems associated with bioreactor use is sporadic spikes of chemical toxins, including nanoparticles.

Comparative Metagenomics Provides Insight Into the Ecosystem Functioning of the Shark Bay Stromatolites, Western Australia.

Stromatolites are organosedimentary build-ups that have formed as a result of the sediment trapping, binding and precipitating activities of microbes. Today, extant systems provide an ideal platform for understanding the structure, composition, and interactions between stromatolite-forming microbial communities and their respective environments. In this study, we compared the metagenomes of three prevalent stromatolite-forming microbial mat types in the Spaven Province of Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay located in Western Australia.