Ronald Oremland
Biography
Professional Studies/Experience
2019 - present: Emeritus
- 1977 to 2019: Project Chief (grade: Senior Research Scientist, March, 1999). United States Geological Survey, Water Resources Division, Menlo Park, CA.
- 2013 to Present: Adjunct Professor, Department of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA.
- 1976 to 1977: National Research Council Postdoctoral Associate, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Mentorship/Outreach
- 2013 to Present: Adjunct Professor, Department of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA.
- 2019 - Present: Adjunct Professor, Univ. Nevada, Las Vegas.
Professional societies/affiliations/committees/editorial boards
- American Society for Microbiology
- American Geophysical Union
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- International Committee of the International Symposia for Environmental Biogeochemistry
Honors, awards, recognition, elected offices
- Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Distinguished Service Award, US Dept. Interior
- Fachbeirat (Scientific Advisory Board), Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
- Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
- Fellow, American Geophysical Union
- President, International Symposia for Environmental Biogeochemistry (ISEB Inc.): 2001 – 2007
- Fellow of the ISEB
- Adjunct Professor, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences, Dept. Marine & Atmospheric Chemistry, Univ. Miami, FL
- Guest Editor, Geomicrobiology Journal, special issue on dissimilatory reduction of toxic elements (2001)
- Editorial Board, Applied & Environmental Microbiology
- Associate Editor, Geomicrobiology Journal
PATENTS:
Selenate removal from wastewaters. 1991, U.S. Patent No. 5,009,786.
Selenate removal from wastewaters. 1993. U.S. Patent No. 5,271,831.
Enhancement of bacterial oxidation of methyl bromide during agricultural fumigations. 2000. US Patent No. 6,013,254.
A bioreactor for the oxidation of the fumigant methyl bromide. 2005. US Patent No. 6916446
Composites comprising biologically-synthesized nanomaterials. U.S. Patent 8,431,640 B2, April, 30, 2013.
Microbially mediated method for synthesis of metal chalcogenide nanoparticles. (Moon et al.; 10,337,030 B2; 2 July 2019)
Science and Products
Bacterial respiration of arsenate and its significance in the environment
No abstract available.
Frankenberger, W.T.; Oremland, Ronald S.; Newman, Diane; Kail, B.W.; Stolz, J.F. Consumption of tropospheric levels of methyl bromide by C1 compound-utilizing bacteria and comparison to saturation kinetics
Pure cultures of methylotrophs and methanotrophs are known to oxidize methyl bromide (MeBr); however, their ability to oxidize tropospheric concentrations (parts per trillion by volume [pptv]) has not been tested. Methylotrophs and methanotrophs were able to consume MeBr provided at levels that mimicked the tropospheric mixing ratio of MeBr (12...
Goodwin, K.D.; Varner, R.K.; Crill, P.M.; Oremland, Ronald S. Selenium
No abstract available.
Ledenberg, J.; Oremland, Ronald S. Methyl-mercury degradation pathways: A comparison among three mercury impacted ecosystems
We examined microbial methylmercury (MeHg) degradation in sediment of the Florida Everglades, Carson River (NV), and San Carlos Creek (CA), three freshwater environments that differ in the extent and type of mercury contamination and sediment biogeochemistry. Degradation rate constant (kdeg) values increased with total mercury (Hgt) contamination...
Marvin-DiPasquale, M.; Agee, J.; Mcgowan, C.; Oremland, R.S.; Thomas, M.; Krabbenhoft, D.; Gilmour, C.C. Mobilization of arsenite by dissimilatory reduction of adsorbed arsenate
Sulfurospirillum barnesii is capable of anaerobic growth using ferric iron or arsenate as electron acceptors. Cell suspensions of S. barnesii were able to reduce arsenate to arsenite when the former oxyanion was dissolved in solution, or when it was adsorbed onto the surface of ferrihydrite, a common soil mineral, by a variety of mechanisms (e.g...
Zobrist, J.; Dowdle, P.R.; Davis, J.A.; Oremland, Ronald S. Radiotracer studies of bacterial methanogenesis in sediments from the Dead Sea and Solar Lake (Sinai)
No abstract available.
Oren, A.; Marvin-DePasquale, Mark; Cohen, Yoram. Geological Survey (U.S.); Oremland, Ronald S.; Oren, A. Bacterial methylmercury degradation in Florida Everglades peat sediment
Methylmercury (MeHg) degradation was investigated along an eutrophication gradient in the Florida Everglades by quantifying 14CH4 and 14CO2 production after incubation of anaerobic sediments with [14C]MeHg. Degradation rate constants (k) were consistently ≤0.1 d-1 and decreased with sediment depth. Higher k ...
Marvin-DiPasquale, M. C.; Oremland, R.S. Dimethylsulfoniopropionate as a potential methanogenic substrate in Mono Lake sediments
A high concentration of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) was found in the water column (0.1–1.8 µM particulate plus dissolved) of Mono Lake, CA, an alkaline, hypersaline waterbody. The dense Artemia monica population contained high levels of DMSP (1.7–2.5 mmol.g-1 wet weight), presumably as an osmolyte. Death of these brine shrimp...
Visscher, P.T.; Guidetti, J.R.; Culbertson, Charles W.; Oremland, Ronald S. Microbial cycling of methyl bromide
Environmental concern about brominated halocarbons like methyl bromide (MeBr) is focused on their potential to destroy stratospheric ozone. Photocatalysis of MeBr and other halocarbons in the stratosphere results in the liberation of reactive CI and Br atoms. Because Br atoms are perhaps as much as 100-fold more efficient at attacking ozone than...
Lidstrom, M.E.; Tabita, F.R.; Oremland, Ronald S. Methanolobus taylorii sp nov, a new methylotropic, estuarine methanogen
Strain GS-16T (T = type strain) is a methylotrophic methanogen that was isolated from estuarine sediments from San Francisco Bay (4) and has been deposited in the Oregon Collection of Methanogens (Oregon Graduate Institute, Portland) as strain OCM 5ST. This strain was isolated by using dimethyl sulfide as the catabolic substrate (4), but it can...
Oremland, Ronald S.; Boone, David R. Biogeochemical transformations of selenium in anoxic environments
No abstract available.
Frankenberger, W.T.; Benson, S.; Oremland, Ronald S. Isolation, growth, and metabolism of an obligately anaerobic, selenate- respiring bacterium, strain SES-3
A gram-negative, strictly anaerobic, motile vibrio was isolated from a selenate-respiring enrichment culture. The isolate, designated strain SES-3, grew by coupling the oxidation of lactate to acetate plus CO2 with the concomitant reduction of selenate to selenite or of nitrate to ammonium. No growth was observed on sulfate or selenite, but cell...
Oremland, Ronald S.; Blum, Jodi S.; Culbertson, Charles W.; Visscher, P.T.; Miller, Laurence G.; Dowdle, P.; Strohmaier, F.E.