Which of the following is NOT a feasible application of unknown bacterial specie

Question

Which of the following is NOT a feasible application of unknown bacterial species indentification?

A. Environmental microbiologists identifying species to monitor ecosystems' response to stress.

B. Agricultural microbiologists identifying species ot treat outbreaks among crops or livestock.

C. Agricultural microbiologists studying the microorganisms that maintain soil fertility by transforming nutrients through degrdation and nitrogen fixation.

D. Environmental microbiologists studying ape species to determine which would be the best model organisms to simulate human diseases.

Explanation / Answer

A. Environmental microbiologists identifying species to monitor ecosystems' response to stress.

Bioindicators include biological processes, species, or communities and are used to assess the quality of the environment and how it changes over time. Changes in the environment are often attributed to anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., pollution, land use changes) or natural stressors (e.g., drought, late spring freeze), although anthropogenic stressors form the primary focus of bioindicator research.

However, not all biological processes, species, or communities can serve as successful bioindicators. Physical, chemical, and biological factors (e.g., substrate, light, temperature, competition) vary among environments. Over time, populations evolve strategies to maximize growth and reproduction (i.e., fitness) within a specific range of environmental factors. Outside an individual's environmental optima, or tolerance range, its physiology and/or behavior may be negatively affected, reducing its overall fitness . Reduced fitness can subsequently disrupt population dynamics and alter the community as a whole . Bioindicator species effectively indicate the condition of the environment because of their moderate tolerance to environmental variability . In contrast, rare species (or species assemblages) with narrow tolerances are often too sensitive to environmental change, or too infrequently encountered, to reflect the general biotic response. Likewise, ubiquitous species (or species assemblages) with very broad tolerances are less sensitive to environmental changes which otherwise disturb the rest of the community. The use of bioindicators, however, is not just restricted to a single species with a limited environmental tolerance. Entire communities, encompassing a broad range of environmental tolerances, can serve as bioindicators and represent multiple sources of data to assess environmental condition in a "biotic index" or "multimetric" approach.

Thus the bacterial species are difficult to identify by the environmantalists as these play a little role in being bioindicators and thus they are not easily identified in this role.

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