Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Microbes
and Plants
Viruses
Archaea
Bacteria
Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae or Cyanophytes)
Protoctista
Eukaryotic Algae
Protozoa
Fungi
Aquatic Fungi
Aquatic Lichens
Plantae
Nonvascular Plants
Vascular Plants
Summary
Questions for Thought
Primary producers capture much of the energy that flows through
freshwater food webs, and microbes are responsible for the bulk of the bio-
geochemical transformational fluxes (including decomposition and nutrient
recycling) in aquatic systems. Some of this biogeochemistry (e.g., produc-
tion of methane by wetlands) has importance on a global scale because
methane and carbon dioxide are important greenhouse gasses. Knowledge
about these organisms is essential to those involved with water quality is-
sues as well as general ecological studies. In this chapter, I consider the mi-
crobes and plants found in freshwaters. This placement of microbes and
plants into a single chapter is certainly an artificial classification, because
the organisms considered here span taxonomic groups from viruses to
complex plants and from Bacteria to Eukarya.
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