The In Situ Function of a Microbial Community Profiled by FT-IR: A Snapshot in Time

TL;DRAbstract

Photographs of an ecosystem are an important tool in macro-community ecology. The photograph is a permanent record of species phenotype. In microbiology, biochemical activity provides the most descriptive information of an organism’s phenotype. A method for fingerprinting all biochemical activities occurring within a microbial community is analogous to a photograph. Infrared spectroscopy in the region between wavelengths 2500 to 20,000 nm (mid-IR) is a well established instrumental method for fingerprinting the total biochemical profile of axenic cultures. Spectra are complex and sensitive as demonstrated by the ability to discriminate between strains of bacteria, fungi, and algae. This thesis develops the method to apply mid-IR spectroscopy in order to attain a biochemical fingerprint by attenuated total reflectance. Chapter 2 establishes methods for obtaining mid-IR spectra by prefiltering and concentrating lake water onto a 0.2 µm filter membrane. In order to optimize signal, a comb

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