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Microbial Biomarkers

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Microbial Ecotoxicology

Abstract

Biomarkers, defined in ecotoxicology as functional measures of exposure to chemicals, may not be informative on the consequences of exposure at the scale of interest, which is the entire ecosystem. This drawback is because links and interactions existing between these measures and the biological system at a larger scale are not always sufficiently known. In this chapter, three different biomarkers of effect and/or exposure (i) antioxidant enzyme activities (AEA), (ii) community structure and (iii) resistance genes are discussed as potential microbial biomarkers in community ecotoxicology. First, AEA are highly sensitive to chemicals but have low specificity and their link with ecosystems’ health is also unclear. The community composition changes linked to adaptation are highly informative about effects on ecosystems’ health and also sensitive (responding to low but prolonged chemical exposure); however, they are not specific. Finally, resistance genes applicability is very limited since information is lacking about the genes that build resistance to the large list of chemicals of concern. In addition, their ecological implications have only been established for few chemicals, like arsenic. Similarly to investigations focused on organisms with a higher level of biological complexity, microbial biomarkers may not be sufficient to link exposure with ecosystem damage. However, these biomarkers may contribute to providing unequivocal information concerning exposure, early effects, adaptation and ecosystem damage in the framework of integrative multi-metric approaches including other chemical, biogeochemical and ecological metrics related to microbial metabolism such as bioaccumulation, chemical speciation, organic matter decomposition or nutrient cycling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Ecologia Aquàtica i Departament de Ciències Ambientals, Campus Montilivi, 17071, Girona, Spain

    Helena Guasch, Berta Bonet & Laura Barral

  2. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Berta Bonet

  3. Irstea, UR MALY, Centre de Lyon-Villeurbanne, 5 rue de la Doua, BP 32108, 69616, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Chloé Bonnineau

Authors
  1. Helena Guasch
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  2. Berta Bonet
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  3. Chloé Bonnineau
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  4. Laura Barral
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helena Guasch .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France

    Cristiana Cravo-Laureau

  2. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France

    Christine Cagnon

  3. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France

    Béatrice Lauga

  4. Equipe Environnement et Microbiologie, IPREM UMR 5254, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Pau, France

    Robert Duran

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Guasch, H., Bonet, B., Bonnineau, C., Barral, L. (2017). Microbial Biomarkers. In: Cravo-Laureau, C., Cagnon, C., Lauga, B., Duran, R. (eds) Microbial Ecotoxicology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61795-4_11

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