1. Soil contains both abiotic and biotic components? T/F
2. What is parent material?
3. Why is time a critical soil formation factor?
4. Bacteria position themselves in small interaggregate spaces to avoid predators. Why else would bacteria want to be in these small spaces?
5. Divalent cations can outcompete monovalent cations for positively charged points on clays. T/F
6. Divalent cations can help bridge (bind) negatively charged bacterial cell walls to negatively charged clays. T/F
7. Biofilms allow for enhanced regulation of genetic diversity. Why does this occur?
8. Why are humic substances used as food for microbes? What are they?
9. Soil ______________ is the largest predictor of microbial diversity
a. Temperature
b. pH
c. moisture
d. oxidation
10. Why don’t you find a lot of photoautotrophs in the deeper parts of the soil?
11. What is one technique I can use to truly understand the bacterial diversity in the soil?
a. Standard culturing methods
b. Western blot
c. Polymorphic linear tomography (PLT)
d. High throughput DNA sequencing
12. Most soil bacteria are aerobes and are also ____________
a. Polytrophic
b. Heterotrophic
c. Isotrophic
d. Eutrophic
13. How can soil algae increase the amount of minerals in the soil?
14. Why does nutrient agar or other rich media not allow all soil bacteria to be cultured? What could be missing?
15. This endotoxin is found on Gram negative bacteria. The lipid component of the molecule is actually the toxic part of the molecule.
16. Smaller bioaerosols
a. Contain less viruses
b. Travel deeper into the lungs
c. Stay in the air longer
d. All the above
17. Name a launching point source for bioaerosols.
18. When there is more electrostatic charge in the air: larger water droplets can form from aerosols since the aerosols will combine due to charge. T/F
19. Gram positive bacteria are inactivated in low humidity. Why does this occur?
20. What do oxygen radical pull off of proteins and nucleic acids to alter their shape and function?
21. Pathogenic plant bacteria can form ice crystals with parts of their cell walls and cause rainfall. T/F
22. What is a fomite that can spread plant pathogens on the farm?
23. This organic material comes from treated wastewater and contains nutrients that are released into the soil upon its application. What is the term for this material?
24. What are two factors that determine how sick a building is?
25. Ebolavirus would likely be used in experiments in a BSL1 laboratory. T/F
26. Why is it important to have negative air flow (pressure) in a BSL3 laboratory?
27. Air entering and leaving a biosafety cabinets (BSC) is HEPA filtered. T/F
28. Define the term, freshwater.
29. Where is most of the freshwater on the planet contained?
30. Why do you find so many microbes in thermoclines?
31. How do zooplankton contribute to the amount of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the oceans?
32. How do viruses contribute to the amount of particulate organic matter (POM) in the ocean?
33. Area that represents the bottom of water body (ex. Lake) is known a s the __________ zone.
34. Cell to cell signaling in a biofilm is known as ________ ___________.
35. If H2S is the electron donor in an anoxygenic photosynthesis reaction than S2 gas will be a product of this reaction. T/F
36. Photoheterotrophs can produce ________ but not ______ by photosynthetic reactions.
37. Why are the polymerases used in PCR engineered from thermophiles?
38. Cold adapted microbes are known as psychrophiles. How can engineering enzymes from these organisms reduce cost in laboratory experiments?
39. The extracellular polysaccharide sheath (EPS) in some cyanobacteria that live in deserts limits water loss, absorbs UV light, and what other function so that these organisms can survive with little water?
40. Chemoautotrophs may be found near thermal vents found at the bottom of the ocean even though the temperature, pH, and pressure can all be very extreme. T/F
