BISC-419 Environmental Microbiology

Instructors:  Prof. Katrina Edwards & Assist. Res. Prof. Jason Sylvan

                                    With guest lectures by Dr. Jean-Paul Baquiran

This class will focus on fundamental aspects of microbiology as they apply in an environmental context.  Our principal textbook will use Brock’s Biology of Microorganisms, but we also draw heavily from other resources and the primary literature.  Topics to be covered in the lecture portion of the class (T, Th) include:

• ·         Introduction to and History of Environmental Microbiology
• ·         Methods in Microbial Ecology
• ·         Marine Biogeochemistry and the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and iron

• ·         Carbon fixation mechanisms and pathways
• ·         Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic microbiology
• ·         Food Webs in microbiology
• ·         Applied microbiology and technology
• ·         Terrestrial microbiology
• ·         “observatory” science
• ·         The deep subsurface biosphere
• ·         Extreme environments
• ·         Recent advances

This class will have alternating Laboratory Demonstrations and Discussions on Fridays, which may or may not overlap directly with the lecture topics.  This portion of the course will also include two field trips to nearby locales. 

Please contact Katrina Edwards kje@usc.edu for more information.