Microbial Biomass
Microbial Biomass - Related Videos
02:01
Preparation of Cyanobacterial Culture for Biomass Production
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2025
Source: Jiang, H., Ho, M. Isolation and Characterization of Intact Phycobilisome in Cyanobacteria. J. Vis. Exp.(2021).This video demonstrates the procedure for culturing cyanobacteria to obtain biomass by growing cells under continuous illumination with carbon dioxide supply and nutrient-rich conditions, followed by harvesting via centrifugation.
03:27
Insoluble Chromogenic Biomass-Based Enzyme Screening: An Assay to Evaluate the Degradation Activity of Plant Biomass-Degrading Enzymes
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2025
This video demonstrates an assay to screen enzymes effective in degrading complex polysaccharides in plant biomass using insoluble chromogenic biomass or ICB. The enzymes hydrolyze ICB to release soluble dye-linked oligosaccharides, and the enzyme activity is assessed by colorimetric analysis of the reaction product.
10:42
Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass with Low-cost Ionic Liquids
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Cited by 65 •
2016
The pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass with protic low-cost ionic liquids is shown, resulting in a delignified cellulose-rich pulp and a purified lignin. The pulp gives rise to high glucose yields after enzymatic saccharification.
08:13
A Novel Bioreactor for High Density Cultivation of Diverse Microbial Communities
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Cited by 8 •
2015
A novel reactor design, coined a high density bioreactor (HDBR), is presented for the cultivation and study of high density microbial communities. Here, the HDBR is successfully applied in a photobioreactor (PBR) configuration for the study of nitrogen metabolism by a mixed high density algal community.
FAQs
Microbial biomass increases when microorganisms convert available carbon and nutrients into cellular components. This links biomass accumulation to substrate supply and nutrient availability rather than treating growth as independent of the environment. Measuring the resulting material can therefore indicate how actively a microbial community participates in nutrient cycling within a sample or ecosystem.
Moisture, temperature, and oxygen can shift the balance among microbial growth, respiration, and mortality. A change in any of these conditions may alter the amount of living material detected, even when the microbial community receives similar substrates. Interpreting a biomass value therefore requires attention to the environmental conditions under which the sample exists and was measured.
A biomass measurement describes how much living microbial material is present, whereas biological activity concerns processes such as growth, respiration, and nutrient conversion. The two can change independently because environmental conditions influence respiration and mortality as well as accumulation. Using both perspectives helps prevent a single biomass value from being treated as a complete description of community function.
Mortality reduces the living material present in a sample, so a measured decrease does not necessarily mean that carbon or nutrients were absent. It may reflect a shift in the balance between cellular production and loss. Considering mortality alongside growth and respiration gives a more biologically meaningful interpretation of changing microbial biomass.
Fumigation-extraction is one established approach for estimating the amount of living microbial material in a defined sample. Its value lies in providing a biomass estimate that can be compared across samples or conditions. In soil and environmental studies, those comparisons help evaluate biological activity and processes such as nutrient cycling, decomposition, and fertility.
Substrate-induced respiration is an estimation method that uses respiration as the measured biological signal. It complements approaches that quantify or visualize microbial material directly, allowing researchers to examine biomass through a response associated with microbial activity. Its use is relevant when comparing communities or samples in studies of biological functioning under defined conditions.
Microscopy and molecular measurements provide alternatives to methods based on fumigation-extraction or respiration. Microscopy can support observation of microbial material, while molecular measurements provide a separate way to assess the microbial component of a sample. Selecting among these approaches depends on the research question, the sample, and whether direct observation or measurement-based estimation is most useful.
In soil research, microbial biomass measurements help evaluate fertility, decomposition, and carbon storage. In wastewater treatment, they help assess the performance of microbial communities, while biotechnology studies use them to examine community performance in engineered settings. Across these applications, the measurement provides a biological indicator for comparing ecosystem or process conditions.