Microcosm

USGS scientist working with a microcosm containing sediments from a subsurface gasoline plume at a leaking underground storage tank in Galloway Township, New Jersey. The microcosm work was part of a study on the natural attenuation of a gasoline spill (Click on image for larger version)

Definitions

Microcosm – "Aquifer materials placed into laboratory vessels such as test tubes or septated serum vials for measurement of microbial activity are referred to as microcosms. Microcosm is defined in the dictionary as 'a community or other unity that is representative of a larger unity.' The reasoning for microcosms is that by understanding the activity of a small portion of an aquifer, much can be learned about the aquifer as a whole." -- Chapelle, 2001, p. 165

Microcosm – "A laboratory model of a natural Ecosystem in which certain environmental variables can be manipulated to observe the response. The model test results are not always applicable to an actual ecosystem because the microcosm is, of necessity, a simplified collection of selected physical, chemical, and biological ecosystem components." -- Vennie, 2007

Microcosm -- "A small, representative system having analogies to a larger system in constitution, configuration, or development" -- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Microcosm -- "a small place, society, or situation that has the same characteristics as something much larger" -- Cambridge Dictionary of American English, Cambridge Dictionaries Online

Related Headlines

• Wastewater Indicators Shown to Degrade in Streams
• RDX Biodegradation Under Metal-Reducing Conditions
• Microorganisms Degrade MTBE Even at Winter Ground-Water Temperatures
• Does NDMA Biodegrade at Ground-Water Recharge Facilities?
• History and Ecology of Chloroethene Biodegradation--A Review
• USGS Studies the Natural Recovery of an Organotin Spill
• MTBE Can Degrade Naturally Without Oxygen
• MTBE Biodegrades Naturally in Stream Sediments
• Natural Attenuation of MTBE at Laurel Bay, South Carolina

Related Research

• Search the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program Bibliography for "microcosm"
• Microbial Degradation of Chloroethenes in Ground Water Systems
• Biodegradation of Emerging Contaminants
• Processes Affecting the Natural Attenuation of Fuel Oxygenates in Ground Water Fuel, Laurel Bay, South Carolina 
• Fate of Landfill Leachate, Norman Municipal Landfill, Norman, Oklahoma
• Organic Compounds in Near-Surface Environments: Understanding Fate in a Changing Biogeochemical Landscape
• Comparative Study of Organic Degradation in Selected Hydrologic Environments
• Microbiology and Molecular Ecology of Biogeochemical Cycles in Aquatic Environments
• Hydrogeochemical and Microbiological Investigations of Radionuclides, Nutrients, and Environmental Contaminants
• Microbial Biogeochemistry of Aquatic Environments

References

Chapelle, F.H., 2001, Ground-water microbiology and geochemistry (2nd ed.): New York, John Wiley and Sons, 477 p.

Vennie, J., compiler, 2007, Water-words glossary: North American Lake Management Society, Web page accessed July 11, 2007.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2000: Houghton Mifflin Company, Fourth Edition.

Microcosm, in Sidney I. Landau, S.I., ed., Cambridge Dictionary of American English: New York, N.Y., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Dictionaries Online, Web page accessed July 11, 2007.

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