Aquatic Ecosystem

By

Dr. P. SURESHKUMAR, M. Sc., M. Phil., M.B.A., Ph.D.,

Assistant Professor in Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Marine Sciences
Annamalai University
Parangipettai-608 502
Mob. 8903041579
[email protected]
ENVIRONMENT
 The living and nonliving
things that surround a
living thing make up its
environment.
Ecology
 Scientific study of the interactions between organisms and
the environment.
 Ecosystem

• A group of living things and their physical surroundings.

 Parts of an Ecosystem

An ecosystem is made up of all the living and

nonliving things in an environment.
Different types of organisms live in an
ecosystem.

Individual living things

can be grouped into higher
levels of organization.

 A group of organisms of
the same kind living in the
same place is a population.
All the population that live in an ecosystem at the same
time form a community.
• Different communities form ecosystems.

• A Biome is a collection of related ecosystems.

 Living Components

 Producer

 Consumer – Herbivores, Carnivore, Omnivore and Decomposer

Living being
 Non Living Components
 Intensity of light
 Range of temperatures
 Amount of moisture
 Type of substratum (soil or rock type)
 Availability of inorganic substances such as minerals
 Supply of gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen
 pH ,etc.
Abiotic factors acting as limiting factor
Ecosystem Classification
1. Natural ecosystem
2. Artificial ecosystem
Artificial /Man made ecosystem

 Artificial ecosystems are created by humans.

Ex.
 Animal reserve or a giant terrarium e.g. zoo
 Gardens are also artificial ecosystem
 Crop lands like maize, sugarcane, rice-fields, wheat,
orchards,
 Dams, aquarium, cities, and manned spaceship.
Man Made/Artificial ecosystem
 Natural Ecosystems
 Terrestrial
 Aquatic
Grass land and Shrub land
Deciduous forest
Rain forest
Rain Forest
Rivers and streams
Ecosystem goods and services
 Direct Values:
 These are resources that people depend upon directly and are easy to
quantify in economic terms.
 Consumptive Use Value - Non-market value of fruit, fodder, firewood,
etc.
 Productive Use Value – Commercial value of timber, fish, medicinal
plants, etc. that people collect for sale.
 Indirect Values:
 These are uses that do not have easy ways to quantify them in
terms of a clearly definable price.
 Non-consumptive use value - scientific research, bird watching,
ecotourism, etc.
 Option value - maintaining options for the future, so that by
preserving them one could reap economic benefits in the future.
 Existence value - ethical and emotional aspects of the existence
of wildlife and nature.
Aquatic Ecosystems
 Aquatic Ecosystem

 Aquatic biomes cover about 75% of the earth’s surface.

 Plants and animals live in water.

 These species are adapted to live in different types of aquatic habitats.

 The special abiotic features are its physical aspects such as the quality of

the water, which includes its clarity, salinity, oxygen content and rate of

flow.
Types of Aquatic Ecosystems

Rivers &
Streams Lakes &
Ponds
Wetlands

Estuaries

Groundwater

Marine
• Aquatic ecosystems are determined primarily by the
depth, flow, temperature, and chemistry of the
overlying water.
Freshwater ecosystems
 Covers 0.80% of the Earth's surface
 Occupies 0.009% of earths total water
 3% of earths net primary production
 41% of the world's known fish species are in Fresh water
ecosystem
• There are three basic types of freshwater ecosystems

1. Lentic: slow-moving water, including pools, ponds, and

lakes.

2. Lotic: rapidly-moving water, for example streams and

rivers.

3. Wetlands: areas where the soil is saturated or inundated for

at least part of the time
The three main types of freshwater wetlands are bogs,
marshes, and swamps.

Bogs are wetlands that typically form in depressions where

water collects.

Marshes are shallow wetlands along rivers.

 Swamps, which often look like flooded forests, water flows

slowly.
Freshwater aquatic system
 A Pond  A Lake
A Stream A River
POND ECOSYSTEMS
•A pond is a small fresh water aquatic ecosystems, where
water is stagnant.
•May be seasonal
•A pond can sustain a wide range of life, from micro-
organisms to mammals.
•Plants and animals that that live in or near the pond have
special adaptations, or ways to survive in their
environment.
•Animals such as frogs, snails and worms remain dormant
in the mud, awaiting the next monsoon.
•Ex. algae, aquatic plants, insects, fishes , birds, etc.
 Producer ex.
 Consumer ex.
 Detrivores/ decomposers ex.
 Lakes

 Can form naturally where groundwater reaches the Earth’s

surface.

 Humans intentionally create artificial lakes by damming

flowing rivers and streams to use them for power, irrigation,
water storage, and recreation (reservoir).

 Structured into horizontal and vertical zones. The types of

organisms present depend on the amount of sunlight available.
A Lake ecosystem
Divisions of Lentic System

Littoral zone: near shore Nutrient rich, lots

of plant and animal life Warm

Limnetic zone: near surface, open

water,Lots of light, Lots of plankton

Profundal zone: deeper, little light

Benthic zone: the bottom, little light, low

oxygen
Running water/flowing water
 Streams & Rivers

• Bodies of flowing water moving in one direction found

everywhere-they get their start at headwaters, which may be
springs, snowmelt or even lakes.

• Travel all the way to their mouths, usually another water

channel or the ocean
River or stream?
The characteristics of rivers and streams change during
the journey from the source to the mouth.
• Characteristics change during the journey from the
source to the mouth.

• Temperature is cooler at the source than it is at the

mouth.

• Water is also clearer, has higher oxygen levels, and

freshwater fish such as trout and heterotrophs can be
found there.
 Towards the middle part of the stream/river, the width
increases, as does species diversity-numerous aquatic green
plants and algae can be found.
• Toward the mouth the water becomes murky from all the
sediments that it has picked up upstream.
• Decreasing the amount of light that can penetrate through the
water.

• Less light

 less diversity of flora

 lower oxygen levels
 fish that require less oxygen, such as catfish and carp, can be
found
 Water Shed

 Describes an area of
land that contains a
common set of streams
and rivers.

 Drains into a single

larger body of water,
such as a larger river, a
lake or an ocean.
Streams & Rivers
Marine Ecosystems
 Marine Ecosystems
Located mainly in coastal areas and in the open
ocean.

Organisms that live in coastal areas adapt to changes

in water level and salinity.

Organisms that live in the open ocean adapt to

changes in temperature and the amount of sunlight
and nutrients available.
 Estuaries

Estuary is an area where fresh water from rivers

mixes with salt water from the ocean.

Very productive because they constantly receive nutrients

from the river and ocean while the surrounding land protects
the estuaries from the harsh force of ocean waves.
Called marine nurseries.
Estuaries
Biodiversity
 Light and nutrients support large populations of rooted plants as
well as plankton.
 Plankton in turn provide food for fish, which can then be eaten
by larger animals such as dolphins.
 Oysters and clams live anchored to rocks and feed by filtering
plankton from the water.
 Organisms that live in estuaries are able to tolerate variations in
salinity because the salt content of the water varies as fresh water
and sat water mix when tides go in and out.
Mangrove Swamps
 Mangrove swamps are tropical or subtropical marine swamps
that are characterized by the abundance of low to tall mangrove
trees.

 Help protect the coastline from erosion and reduce the damage
from storms. They also provide a home for about 2,000 animal
species.

 Mangrove swamps have been filled with waste and destroyed

in many parts of the world.
Mangrove Swamps
 Salt Marshes
 Salt marshes are maritime habitats characterized by grasses,
sedges, and other plants that have adapted to continual, periodic
flooding and are found primarily throughout the temperate and
subarctic regions.

 The salt marsh supports a community of clams, fish, aquatic

birds, crabs, and shrimp.

 Salt marshes, like other wetlands, also absorb pollutants to

protect inland areas.
Mangrove
 Mangrove belt

Rocky and Sandy Shores

Oceans
 largest of all the ecosystems
 dominate the Earth’s surface
 separate zones
Intertidal
Pelagic
Abyssal
Benthic
 great diversity of species
 richest diversity of species even though it contains fewer species than
there are on land
Intertidal Zone

Where the ocean meets the land

Sometimes submerged and at other times

exposed

waves and tides come in and out

Communities are constantly changing

 Intertidal Zone

Rocky coasts

 stratified vertically
 Where only highest tides reach
 a few species of algae and mollusks

 submerged during high tide

 more diverse array of algae and small animals, such as
herbivorous snails, crabs, sea stars, and small fishes

 bottom of the intertidal zone

 only exposed during the lowest tides, many invertebrates,
fishes, and seaweed can be found
Intertidal Zone

 Sandier shores

not as stratified
waves keep mud and sand constantly moving
 very few algae and plants can establish themselves
 the fauna include worms, clams, predatory crustaceans, crabs, and
shorebirds.
Wave Regions
 much stronger than wind
 decide what grows where
 shores classified by amount of wave action
Exposed shores – receive full brunt of the ocean for most or at
least some of the time
Semi-exposed shores – sheltered by barrier islands but still have
to cope with waves
Sheltered shores – shelter of peninsulas and inshore islands
Enclosed shores
river mouths and estuaries
completely sheltered by either a protective rocks or a sand bar
 Pelagic – Open Ocean

 Waters further from the land, basically the open ocean

 Generally cold though it is hard to give a general temperature range

since, just like ponds and lakes, there is thermal stratification with a
constant mixing of warm and cold ocean currents
 Epipelagic – Open Ocean

 extends down to around 200m

 lowest depth that light can penetrate
 flora in the epipelagic zone include surface seaweeds
 fauna include many species of fish and some mammals, such as whales and
dolphins
 many feed on the abundant plankton
Mesopelagic Zone
"twilight zone" of the ocean
photic zone above
darkness below
 food becomes scarce – some animals
migrate up to the surface at night to feed
rely on food that falls down from above
eat each other
sometimes the only things to eat may be bigger than the hunter
developed long sharp teeth, expandable jaws and stomachs
 ctenophore – related to jellyfish
Big Scale - ambush predator cilia can be illuminated

Firefly squid
three kinds of

photophores

Hatchet Fish
only a few inches long
Viperfish
specially adapted hinged skull

Dragonfish -
stomachs hold
big meals
Bathypelagic Zone
 extends down from 1000 to 4000m
 only light is from bioluminescent organisms
 only food is what trickles down from above, or from eating other
animals
 water pressure at this depth is considerable (~100 – 400
atmospheres)
 most animals are either black or red in color
 very little blue/green light penetrates this deep – red is not
reflected and looks black
Narcomedusa
Vampire Squid
Snake Dragon
Angler Fish

Amphi - crustacean

Ctenophore – voracious predator

Deepstaria very slow
swimmers, no tentacles, close
flexible bells (up to a meter
across) around their prey
Big Red
grows to over
a meter across
Abyssopelagic Zone - the Abyss
 4000m to the sea floor
 only zone deeper than this is the hadal zone
 areas found in deep sea trenches and canyons
 home to pretty inhospitable living conditions
 near- freezing temperatures
crushing pressures
Deep Water Squid

Basketstar

Sea Pig Sea Spider

Shrimp

Medussa

Winged Sea Cucumber

Deep Sea Smoker - 648°F

Deep-sea Anemone
Plants and Animals of Oceans

 Overall, the types of organisms that may be found in the layers

of the ocean at various depths is dependent on available
sunlight.

 Phytoplankton grow only in areas where there is enough light

and nutrients; open ocean is one of the least productive of all
ecosystems.
 Zooplankton (sea’s smallest herbivores), jellyfish and tiny
shrimp, live near the surface with the phytoplankton they eat.
 Fish feed on the plankton as do marine mammals such as
whales.

 Most food at the ocean floor consists of dead organisms that

fall from the surface.

 Decomposers, filter feeders, and the organisms that eat them

live in the deep areas of the ocean.
Coral Reefs
Marine coral Ecosystem
Coral Reefs
 Limestone ridges found in tropical climates and composed of
coral fragments that are deposited around organic remains.

 Thousands of species of plants and animals live in the cracks and

crevices of coral reefs, which makes coral reefs among the most
diverse ecosystems on Earth.
What Is a Coral Reef?

 A structure formed by coral polyps, tiny animals that live in

colonies.
 Coral polyps form a hard, stony, branching structure made of
limestone.
 New polyps attach to old coral and gradually build the reef.

 Corals are predators that use stinging tentacles to capture small

animals, such as zooplankton, that float or swim close to the
reef.
Types of Coral Reefs

 Fringing reefs
Submerged platforms of living coral extending from the
shore into the sea
 Barrier reefs
Follow the shore but are separated from it by water
Great Barrier Reef is world’s largest
Types of Coral Reefs

 Atolls
Ring-shaped islands of coral in open sea
Form on submerged mud banks or volcano craters
Surround a seawater lagoon
Channels connect lagoon to the sea
Coral Reef Climate

Usually found near land in shallow, warm salt water

Lots of light
Tropical temperatures, averaging 70°-85° F
Most coral cannot survive below 65° F
Coral Reef Plants
Phytoplankton
Microscopic
Basis for all ocean food
chains
Coral Reef Plants

Algae

Green

Red

Brown algae
takes many forms
Coral Reef Plants
Seaweed and Sea grasses
Brown seaweed
Sea grass

 
Shoal grass
Turtle grass                          
 Fascinating Fact: The Great
Barrier Reef

World’s largest coral reef

Over 1257 miles
long
Off the northeast
coast of Australia
Only grows about
one inch per year
 The Great Barrier Reef: Home to…
 1500 species of fish
 400 different types of coral
 4,000 mollusks
 500 species of seaweed
 215 species of birds
 16 species of sea snake
 6 species of sea turtle
 Whales visit during winter
Coral Reef Creatures
Coral polyps
Tentacles
Digestive
sac
Connecting
filaments
Skeletal body
Coral Reef Creatures
Symbiotic relationships
Coral with
algae
Clown fish
with sea
anemones
Coral Reef Creatures
Tropical fish
Angel fish
John Dory
Butterfly fish

Sea horse
Octopus
Reef shark
Fascinating Fact: The Sea Horse

Very weak swimmers

Female lays eggs, male carries them in
pouch till birth
Only animal in which the father gives birth
Body covered with armored plates
Food Chain

Starfish

Coral
Octopus

Zooplankton

Moray Eel
Phytoplankton
Endangered Coral Reefs

 Major threats to coral reefs include:

Ocean pollution
Dredging off the
coast
Endangered Coral Reefs

Other dangers:
Careless collection of coral specimens
Sedimentation
 Inhibits growth of coral polyps
 Inhibits algae growth
 Upsets balance of the biome
Hydrothermal vent
Hydrothermal vent

 Is a place where seawater

circulates inside the earths
crust and is ejected as thermal
springs warmer than ambient
water. Water may be merely
warm , (20 degree C) or very
hot above 380 degree C )
Hydrothermal smokers (White and Black
smokers)
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents of volcanic origin on mid-
oceanic ridges are surrounded by unique chemoautotrophic
prokaryotes, as well as echinoderms and arthropods.

hydrothermal vents (where chemosynthetic sulfur bacteria

form the food base).

Benthic communities include invertebrates and fishes also

found
Lentic system classification based on Temperature
Based on the temperature/ Thermal stratification
 Upwelling

Up welling is caused as a result of thermal stratification

Classification

Based on number of times / Frequency

 MONOMICTIC - upwelling occur once in a year e.g. in

Nigeria, it occur during rain of July - Oct.

 DIMITIC - upwelling that occurs twice in a year. During

rain and harmatan e.g. North Nigeria.
 POLYMICTIC - upwelling occurring several times in a year.
Most ideal for aquaculture.

 MEROMICTIC - uncompleted upwelling only some partial,

not reach lower part.

 HOLOMICTIC - complete mixing of both lower and upper

part.
 Oligotrophic lakes - deep, nutrient-poor lakes in which the
phytoplankton is not very productive. The water is usually
clear.

 Eutrophic lakes - shallow, nutrient-rich lakes with very

productive phytoplankton. The waters are usually murky
due to large phytoplankton populations. the large amounts
of matter being decomposed may result in oxygen
depletion.
The waters are usually murky due to large phytoplankton
populations
the large amounts of matter being decomposed may
result in oxygen depletion.
 Freshwater biomes have suffered mainly from pollution.

 Runoff containing fertilizer and other wastes, and industrial

dumping enter into rivers, ponds, and lakes tend to promote
abnormally rapid algae growth- ARTIFICAIL
EUTROPHICATION

 When algae die, dead organic matter ends up in the water.

This makes the water unusable, and it kills many of the
organisms living in the habitat.
Oligotrophic lake Eutrophic Lake
 Increase of N and P through – (natural/ anthropogenic)
Industrial waste, Agricultural run off, Volcano, etc.

 Increase the growth of algae and plants,

 Depletes the oxygen content.

 This kills oxygen loving aerobic organisms.

 This condition accelerates highly anaerobic and

outrageous condition.
Energy flow
Simplistically:

heat

Producers Consumers
 This pattern of energy flow among different organisms is the TROPHIC STRUCTURE
of an ecosystem.
Decomposers

heat
Food web
pyramids

carnivores
herbivores
producers biomass of producers
biomass of herbivores
biomass of carnivores
Where is our water ?
Oceans 97.23%
Glaciers & Icecaps 2.14%
Ground water 0.61%
Fresh water lakes 0.009%
Inland seas 0.006%
Soil moisture 0.004%
Atmosphere 0.001%
Rivers 0.0001%

LESS THAN 3% OF ALL WATER IS FRESH

Global Water Crisis
 Water-related disease kills 1 child every 8 s!
 50% of people in developing countries suffer from one or
more water-related diseases
 50% of population lacks adequate sanitation
 contaminated water
causes 80% of developing world diseases
has pushed 20% of freshwater fish species to the edge of
extinction
 Management
Why Water Quality Matters
 Human Health
 Sustainable management
 Restoration
 Remediation

125
 Water quality parameters
 Physical
 Turbidity, Color, Odour, Total solids, Temperature

 Chemical
 BOD, DO, COD, TOC, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Chlorides, Sulfates,
Alkalinity, pH, Hardness, Fluorides, Iron and Manganese, Heavy metals,
trace elements, and Priority pollutants.
 Health problem which caused by chemical factors ex.
Methemoglobenemia / blue baby syndrome (Nitrogen)
 Minamata-Pollutant
 Biological
 Pathogenic Organisms (bacteria, viruses and fungi) measured by fecal
coliforms
 flora and fauna
 2 Cases of active disease; approximately 5,900,000 cases of blindness or severe complications annually
Disease Morbidity Mortality Relationship to water supply
(cases/yr) (deaths/yr)

Diarrhoeal diseases 1 billion 3.3 million unsanitary excreta disposal, poor hygiene,
unsafe drinking water

Intestinal helminths 1.5 billion1 100 000 unsanitary excreta disposal, poor hygiene

Schistosomiasis 200 million1 200 000 unsanitary excreta disposal, lack of nearby
safe water sources

Dracunculiasis 100 000 0 unsafe drinking water

Trachoma 150 million2 0 poor hygiene (face washing), lack of nearby

safe water sources

Malaria 400 million 1.5 million poor water management and storage

Dengue fever 1.75 million 20 000 poor solid wastes management, water
storage

3 Includes an estimated 270,000 blind

Poliomyelitis 114 000 0 unsanitary excreta disposal, poor hygiene,

4 Mortality caused by blindness

unsafe drinking water

1 People currently infected.

Trypanosomiasis 275 000 130 000 lack of nearby sources of safe water sources

Bancroftian filariasis 72.8 million1 0 poor water management and storage

Onchocerciasis 17.7 million1, 3 40 0004 poor water management in large-scale

projects
Well known water borne diseases

Jaundice
Cholera
Typhoid
Diarriohea
 Need for testing water quality
 For drinking water:
To assess safety and palatability of water for consumption

 For raw water sources:

To select treatment systems; to establish pollution control
monitoring systems

 For wastewaters:
To select type and degree of treatment; to control treatment
plant operation

 For receiving waters:

To evaluate their ability to accept pollution loads; to monitor
self-purification
 Types of Examination
 Physical examination:
To determine aesthetic quality

 Chemical examination:
To test for chemicals which affect the water quality and/or
which are indicative of pollution

 Bacteriological/Biological examination:
To test for the presence of bacterial indicators of pollution and
hence safety for consumption
 Overview of analysis
Sl.No. Parameter Method Instruments/Equipment
A. Physico-chemical
1. pH Electrometric pH Meter
2. Conductivity Electrometric Conductivity Meter
3. TDS Electrometric Conductivity/TDS Meter
4. Alkalinity Titration by H2SO4 -
5. Hardness Titration by EDTA -
6. Chloride Titration by AgNO3 -
7. Sulphate Turbidimetric Turbidity Meter
8. Nitrate Ultraviolet screening UV-VIS Spectrophotometer
9. Phosphate Molybdophosphoric acid UV-VIS Spectrophotometer
10. Fluoride SPADNS UV-VIS Spectrophotometer
11. Sodium Flame emission Flame Photometer
12. Potassium Flame emission Flame Photometer
13. Calcium Titration by EDTA -
14. Magnesium Titration by EDTA -
15. Boron Carmine UV-VIS Spectrophotometer
16. BOD 5 days incubation at 20oC BOD Incubator
17. COD Digestion followed by titration COD Digestor
B Bacteriological
18. Total coliform Multiple tube fermentation Bacteriological Incubator
19. Faecal coliform technique
C. Heavy Metals
20. Iron, Manganese, Copper, Nickel, Digestion followed by Atomic Atomic Absorption
Chromium, Lead, Cadmium, Zinc spectrometry Spectrometer
D. Pesticides and Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons
21. Pesticides and Polynuclear Aromatic Gas chromatography Gas Chromatograph with
Hydrocarbons ECD and FID
 Pathogens
 Testing for pathogens is very difficult, and it is impossible to monitor water
for every single pathogen:
 A wide variety of pathogens
 Tests for pathogens difficult and time consuming
 The number of pathogens present is small
 Indicator organisms:
 Organisms normally present in the feces of human are used as indicator
organisms.
 If present in water, they indicate the presence of fecal material and hence the
presence of intestinal pathogens.
 Coliforms as indicator organisms:
 The number of coliforms in feces is very great; 125 - 400 billion per capita
daily discharge
 Rates of removal/decay/death of coliforms are parallel to that of pathogens
 Tests are simple
 Easy numerical evaluation
 Other Indicator organisms
 Bacteriological examination
 Bacteriological examination of water actually employs three different
techniques:
(1) total count,
(2) membrane filter method and
(3) multiple tube method
 Interest of organisms : Indicator organisms, coliforms, faecal
coliforms and faecal streptococci.

1. Total count - pour plate method,

 A known volume of water sample is mixed with the molten Yeast-
Extract Agar in petridishes and allowed to set.
 Incubate @ 37°C for 24 hours and observe

2. Membrane filter method

 bacterial cells are filtered through a membrane
 membrane are placed on a suitable solid medium.
 On incubation these cells produce visible colonies which can be
counted
 Multiple tube fermentation technique
 In the presumptive test,

 The samples are inoculated, each in 10ml of the corresponding

broth.

 If the sample volume is 10ml or more, then the medium used

should be of double strength.

 After 24-48 hours of incubation at the specified temperature the

results are noted based on acid production and/or gas production in
the tubes
MPN summary
BSI, ISO, ISI, CPCB, FAO, WHO, etc.
Air borne diseases

Diphtheria - Corynebacterium diphtheriae

 Only humans serve as a reservoir for this microorganism

 Part of DPT vaccine

o Diphtheria
o Pertussis
o Tetanus
 Administered at 2, 4, 6, and 15-18 months, and again at
4-6 years with boosters every 10 years recommended
(especially if traveling to areas where diphtheria is
endemic – Asia, Africa, Central and South America and
Russia)
 Treatment
Antitoxin administered to neutralize the toxin
Immediate administration based on symptoms rather
than waiting for laboratory results
Also administer penicillin or erythromycin
 Prevention
Immunization (vaccination)
Has protected USA from this disease
Toxoid made from diphtheria toxin
Part of DPT vaccine
o Diphtheria
o Pertussis
o Tetanus
Administered at 2, 4, 6, and 15-18 months, and
again at 4-6 years with boosters every 10 years
recommended (especially if traveling to areas
where diphtheria is endemic – Asia, Africa,
Central and South America and Russia)
2. Legionnaires’ Disease (Legionellosis)

Caused by Legionella pneumophila

1976 – American Legion convention in Philadelphia
in one of the city’s largest hotels
 29 fatalities (182 participants)

1985 – Stafford, England

 Cooling system
 39 fatalities out of 163 people exposed
Not spread person-to-person
Bacteria normally found in soil and aquatic
ecosystems
Bacteria also found in air-conditioning systems and
shower stalls
Infection causes cytotoxic damage to lung alveoli
 Virulence factors/pathogenicity
Mist inhaled from poor water cooling systems and
mist machines in supermarkets
Soil  dust??
Endotoxin in cell wall
Hemolysin generated
Cytotoxin produced
Bacteria divide within alveolar macrophages
 Inhibition of fusion of phagosome with lysosome
Mediated by mip gene product (macrophage
infectivity potentiator)
 Important in establishing pneumonia
 Symptoms
Chest pain, dry (non-productive) cough
Fever
Headache
Neuralgia
“Atypical pneumonia” (bronchopneumonia)
Abdominal cramping and gastrointestinal symptoms
may also occur
 Laboratory culture
Mueller-Hinton agar
1% Hemoglobin + 1% Isovitalex (vitamins)
5% CO
2
Cell culture
Grown in animals
Guinea pigs
Chick embryos
Can survive in free-living amoebae (another
potential source)
 Increased susceptibility
Smokers
Alcoholism
Endotracheal intubation
Chronic pulmonary diseases
Patients on immunosuppressive therapy
 Transplant patients
 Autoimmune patients
Anesthesia
 Diagnosis and treatment
Isolation and serological identification needed
Direct immunofluorescence (organisms cultured or obtained
from sputum)
Indirect immunofluorescence (patient’s serum – antibodies
to organism)
Agglutination tests
ELISA
RIA on urine
Erythromycin and/or rifampin
Meningitis
Neisseria meningitidis*, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus
influenzae*, Salmonella choleraesuis (invades from GI tracts), Listeria
monocytogenes*
Neisseria meningitidis
(epidemic meningitis)

Gram negative dipolococci (meningococci) /meningococci

Causes 2000-3000 cases of meningitis annually in USA

Air micro organisms
There are different methods to isolate the
microorganism from the air
1-solid impingement
2-liquid impingement

It is not collects and counts all the microorganisms in

the air sample tested. Some microbial cells are
destroyed and some entirely pass through in all the
processes.
Impingement in liquids

 In this method, the air drawn is through a very small

opening tube and bubbled through the liquid. The
organisms get trapped in the liquid medium. Aliquots
of the liquid
 then plated to determine microbial content
Impingement on solids:
In this method, the microorganisms are collected on
the solid surface of agar medium. Colonies develop on
the medium where the organism impinges
procedure
1-pour melted ,cooled Czapek dox agar
With steptomycen and nutrient agar in petri dishes.
2-allow them to solidify.
3-remove cover and expose the petri dishe for 5-
10minute at differnet location.
4-cover the lid and incubate the plate.
5- Czapek dox agar in25°c for7days,and nutrient agar
in 35°c for 24-48 hours
observation
 1-observe the plates and count the distribution of fungal and
bacterial colonies on Czapek dox agar
and nutrient agar .

2-record your result for the total number of colonies using colony
counter and fungi each plate.
Fungi isolated Location number of colonies Mean Percen
tage
Bacterial count

Percentage occurrence = number of colonies of individual species

__________________________________
Total number of colonies of all species
Thank you