title: Occurrence and role of algae and fungi in acid mine drainage environment with special reference to metals and sulfate immobilization.
abstract: Passive remediation of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is a popular technology under development in current research. Roles of algae and fungi, the natural residents of AMD and its attenuator are not emphasized adequately in the mine water research. Living symbiotically various species of algae and fungi effectively enrich the carbon sources that help to maintain the sulfate reducing bacterial (SRB) population in predominantly anaerobic environment. Algae produce anoxic zone for SRB action and help in biogenic alkalinity generation. While studies on algal population and actions are relatively available those on fungal population are limited. Fungi show capacity to absorb significant amount of metals in their cell wall, or by extracellular polysaccharide slime. This review tries to throw light on the roles of these two types of microorganisms and to document their activities in holistic form in the mine water environment. This work, inter alia, points out the potential and gap areas of likely future research before potential applications based on fungi and algae initiated AMD remediation can be made on sound understanding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India.
authors.forename: Bidus Kanti
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Arup
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koschorreck
authors.forename: Santi M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wendt-Potthoff
authors.forename: Jayanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D004322:Drainage / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D008906:Mining; D013431:Sulfates / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D008670:Metals; D013431:Sulfates