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Mills ,
Aaron L. 		Research Interests

Professor; Ph.D. Cornell University, 1976.

Microbial ecology, microbial transformations of groundwater pollutants, bacterial transport through porous media.

213 Clark Hall
434-924-6739
alm7d@virginia.edu

Active projects examine the microbial transformations of organic and inorganic pollutants and trophic transfer of energy through microorganisms. A main line of inquiry deals with bacteria in the subsurfce (groundwater) environment. Current projects include field and laboratory investigation of factors controlling the movement of bacteria in porous media, metabolism of contaminant hydrocarbons at the saturated/unsaturated zone interface, and the effect of that metoblism on the geochemical conditions within the aquifer. Close collaboration with physical scientists (hydrologists, geochemists) is an important part of research in microbial ecology of the surface and subsurface. An additional line of research examines microbial communities with respect to the role their structure plays in determining the fulfillment of their role in the ecosystem. Phenomena such as redundancy, congeneric homotaxis, stability, and resiliency are examined in model ecosystems that simulate the microbial habitat used by NASA for maintenance of atmospheric conditions and food production in long-term space missions.


Selected Recent Publications

Franklin, R.B., J.L. Garland, C.H. Bolster, and A.L. Mills. 2001. The impact of dilution on microbial community structure and functional potential: A comparison of numerical simulations and batch culture experiments. Appl Environ Microbiol 67(2):702-712.

Garland, J.L., A.L. Mills, and J.S. Young. 2001. Analysis of methods for numerical analysis of community-level physiological profiling of bacterial communities. Soil Biol Biochem 33:1059-1066.

Powelson, D.K., and A.L. Mills. 2001. Transport of Escherichia coli in saturated, unsaturated and variably unsaturated sand columns. J Environ Qual 31:238-245.

Bolster, C.H., A.L. Mills, G.M. Hornberger, J.S. Herman. 2000. The effect of intra-population variability on the long-distance transport of bacteria. Ground Water 38:370-375.

Grimes, D.J., A.L. Mills, and K. Nealson. 2000. The role of uncultured bacteria in geochemical cycling. Pages 209-227 In Colwell, R.R. and D.J. Grimes, Viable but Unculturable Bacteria. ASM Press, Washington DC.

Lowit, M.B., L. K. Blum, and A. L. Mills. 2000. Determining replication for discrimination among microbial communities in environmental samples using community-level physiological profiles. FEMS - Microbiology Ecology 32:97-102.

Sprague, L.A., J.S. Herman, G.M. Hornberger, and A.L. Mills. 2000. Atrazine adsorption and colloid-facilitated transport through the unsaturated zone. Journal of Environmental Quality 29:1632-1641.

Bolster, C.H., A.L. Mills, Hornberger, G.M., and J.S. Herman. 1999. The spatial distribution of deposited bacteria following miscible displacement experiments in intact cores. Water Resources Research 35: 1797-1807.

Bolster, C.H., G.M. Hornberger, A.L. Mills, and J.L. Wilson. 1999. Response to 'Comment on "Method for calculating deposition coefficients using the fraction of bacteria recovered from laboratory columns." Environ. Sci. Technol. 33:1318-1319.

Franklin, R.B., D.R. Taylor, and A.L. Mills. 1999. The distribution of microbial communities in anaerobic and aerobic zones of a shallow coastal plain aquifer. Microbial Ecology 38:377-386.

Franklin, R.B., D.R. Taylor, and A.L. Mills. 1999. Characterization of microbial community structure using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Journal of Microbiological Methods 35:225-235.

Garland, J.L. and A.L. Mills. 1999. Importance of pattern analysis in community-level physiological profiles (CLPP): a reply to the letter from P.J. A. Howard. Soil Biol. Biochem. 31:1201-1202.

Garland, J.L. and A.L. Mills. 1999. Further comments on the interpretation of community-level physiological profiles. Soil Biol. Biochem. 31:1203.

Johnson, S.E., J.S. Herman, A.L. Mills, and G.M. Hornberger. 1999. Bioavailability and desorption characteristics of aged, nonextractable atrazine in soil. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 18:1747-1754.

Mills, A.L. 1999. The role of bacteria in environmental geochemistry. p. 125-132. In Plumlee, G.S., and M.H. Logsdon (ed.) Reviews in Economic Geology, v.6, Society of Economic Geologists.

Mills, A.L., 1997. Microbial movement in the subsurface. p. 223-241. In Amy, P.S., and D.H. Haldeman (ed.) Microbial Ecology of the Terrestrial Subsurface. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

Environmental Sciences Department
291 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia
(434) 924-7761
Maintained by wsc4j@virginia.edu and hee2b@virginia.edu.