Modelling Bacterial Growth, Dispersal and Biodegradation: An experiment-based modelling study of the spatiotemporal dynamics of bacterial colonies, their responses to dispersal networks, and their performance in degrading organic contaminants

• Main Author: Banitz, Thomas
• Other Authors: Prof. Dr. Karin Frank
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: bacterial model; bacterial dispersal; fungal networks; bioavailability; bioremediation; organic pollutants; ddc:570
• Online Access: https://repositorium.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de/handle/urn:nbn:de:gbv:700-201108228284

Successful bioremediation of polluted soils is often limited by the bioavailability of organic contaminants to degrading bacteria. Recent studies revealed that fungal hyphae have the potential to promote bacterial dispersal, and thus raised the idea of specifically stimulating the establishment of fungal networks in soils to increase contaminant bioavailability. Can such bacterial dispersal networks improve biodegradation performance considerably? If so, how are the improvements affected by abiotic conditions and by the spatial structure of dispersal networks? This doctoral thesis aims at answering these research questions. To this end, laboratory experiments are performed and a bacterial simulation model is developed, incorporating both microbiological and ecological theory. Manifold simulations and analyses of the microbial ecosystems’ spatiotemporal dynamics under different environmental scenarios reveal key factors and processes controlling biodegradation performance and determining benefits from bacterial dispersal networks.