This book discusses how aquatic microbial communities develop interactive metabolic coordination both within and between species to optimize their energetics. It explains that microbial community structuration often includes functional stratification among a multitude of organisms that variously exist either suspended in the water, lodged in sediments, or bound to one another as biofilms on solid surfaces. The authors describe techniques that can be used for preparing and distributing microbiologically safe drinking water, which presents the challenge of successfully removing the pathogenic members of the aquatic microbial community and then safely delivering that water to consumers. Drinking water distribution systems have their own microbial ecology, which we must both understand and control in order to maintain the safety of the water supply. Since studying aquatic microorganisms often entails identifying them, the book also discusses techniques for successfully isolating and cultivating bacteria. As such, it appeals to microbiologists, microbial ecologists and water quality scientists.

This book presents a summary of terrestrial microbial processes, which are a key factor in supporting healthy life on our planet. The authors explain how microorganisms maintain the soil ecosystem through recycling carbon and nitrogen and then provide insights into how soil microbiology processes integrate into ecosystem science, helping to achieve successful bioremediation as well as safe and effective operation of landfills, and enabling the design of composting processes that reduce the amount of waste that is placed in landfills. The book also explores the effect of human land use, including restoration on soil microbial communities and the response of wetland microbial communities to anthropogenic pollutants. Lastly it discusses the role of fungi in causing damaging, and often lethal, infectious diseases in plants and animals.

This book summarizes current advances in our understanding of how infectious disease represents an ecological interaction between a pathogenic microorganism and the host species in which that microbe causes illness. The contributing authors explain that pathogenic microorganisms often also have broader ecological connections, which can include a natural environmental presence; possible transmission by vehicles such as air, water, and food; and interactions with other host species, including vectors for which the microbe either may or may not be pathogenic. This field of science has been dubbed disease ecology, and the chapters that examine it have been grouped into three sections. The first section introduces both the role of biological community interactions and the impact of biodiversity on infectious disease. In turn, the second section considers those diseases directly affecting humans, with a focus on waterborne and foodborne illnesses, while also examining the critical aspect of microbial biofilms. Lastly, the third section presents the ecology of infectious diseases from the perspective of their impact on mammalian livestock and wildlife as well as on humans. Given its breadth of coverage, the volume offers a valuable resource for microbial ecologists and biomedical scientists alike.

Viral Ecology defines and explains the ecology of viruses by examining their interactions with their hosting species, including the types of transmission cycles that have evolved, encompassing principal and alternate hosts, vehicles, and vectors. It examines virology from an organismal biology approach, focusing on the concept that viral infections represent areas of overlap in the ecology of viruses, their hosts, and their vectors.
Key Features
* The relationship between viruses and their hosting species
* The concept that viral interactions with their hosts represents a highly evolved aspect of organismal biology
* The types of transmission cycles which exist for viruses, including their hosts, vectors, and vehicles
* The concept that viral infections represent areas of overlap in the ecology of the viruses, their hosts, and their vectors

This volume focuses on those instances when benign and even beneficial relationships between microbes and their hosts opportunistically change and become detrimental toward the host. It examines the triggering events which can factor into these changes, such as reduction in the host's capacity for mounting an effective defensive response due to nutritional deprivation, coinfections and seemingly subtle environmental influences like the amounts of sunlight, temperature, and either water or air quality. The effects of environmental changes can be compounded when they necessitate a physical relocation of species, in turn changing the probability of encounter between microbe and host. The change also can result when pathogens, including virus species, either have modified the opportunist or attacked the host's protective natural microflora. The authors discuss these opportunistic interactions and assess their outcomes in both aquatic as well as terrestrial ecosystems, highlighting the impact on plant, invertebrate and vertebrate hosts.

This volume summarizes recent advances in environmental microbiology by providing fascinating insights into the diversity of microbial life that exists on our planet. The first two chapters present theoretical perspectives that help to consolidate our understanding of evolution as an adaptive process by which the niche and habitat of each species develop in a manner that interconnects individual components of an ecosystem. This results in communities that function by simultaneously coordinating their metabolic and physiologic actions. The third contribution addresses the fossil record of microorganisms, and the subsequent chapters then introduce the microbial life that currently exists in various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Coverage of the geosphere addresses endolithic organisms, life in caves and the deep continental biosphere, including how subsurface microbial life may impact spent nuclear fuel repositories. The discussion of the hydrosphere includes hypersaline environments and arctic food chains. By better understanding examples from the micro biosphere, we can elucidate the many ways in which the niches of different species, both large and small, interconnect within the overlapping habitats of this world, which is governed by its microorganisms.

This volume summarizes recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms that produce successful symbiotic partnerships involving microorganisms. It begins with a basic introduction to the nature of and mechanistic benefits derived from symbiotic associations. Taking that background knowledge as the starting point, the next sections include chapters that examine representative examples of coevolutionary associations that have developed between species of microbes, as well as associations between microbes and plants. The authors conclude with a section covering a broad range of associations between microbes and invertebrate animals, in which they discuss the spectrum of hosts, with examples ranging from bryozoans and corals to nematodes, arthropods, and cephalopods. Join the authors on this journey of understanding!

This volume focuses on blocking disease transmission and the ecological perspective of pathogens and pathogenic processes. The chapters on blocking transmission cover the environmental safety of space flight, biocides and biocide resistance, as well as infection control in healthcare facilities. The book also offers insights into the ecological aspects of infectious disease, introducing the reader to the role of indigenous gut microbiota in maintaining human health and current discussions on environmentally encountered bacterial and fungal pathogens including species that variously cause the necrotizing skin disease Buruli ulcer and coccidioidomycosis. Further, it explores the influenza A virus as an example for understanding zoonosis. It is a valuable resource for microbiologists and biomedical scientists alike.

This book answers the question "What is it that viruses do?" by presenting three aspects of viral ecology. The first aspect explains how viruses affect the population diversity and energetics of their host communities. Perhaps the most notable example of this concept is our understanding that primary production within ecosystems often depends upon those viruses which serve as controllers of nutrient recycling, connecting the aquatic and terrestrial realms in ways that can be assessed locally and globally. The second aspect describes genetic partnerships which exist between hosts and their viruses. These include processes termed endogeny and lysogeny by which the host carries at least a partial genomic copy of the virus. Fluidity of these collective genomes is expressed on an evolutionary time scale and the mutual life cycles which they produce represent a forging of shared genomic fate that obligates partnership of the virus and its host. The viral sequences represent a source of potential benefit as well as potential peril for the host and can implement phenotypic changes in the host. Hosts often use those changes as tools. As humans, the most notable example would be that mammals rely upon temporary activation of their endogenous viral genes in order to successfully develop a placenta. The third aspect is defending the health of a host, which relies upon activity in two directions. Hosts often use their captured viral genes to identify and subsequently direct battle against invading viruses. This natural concept has been engineered for combating cancer, is useful for suppressing the detrimental consequences of genetic diseases, and has been developed to create targeted antiviral vaccines. But, the defense has to work in two directions and the host can use other symbiotic microorganisms as protection against its viruses. This book will appeal to a wide readership by providing a broad perspective of viral ecology, and all scientists will find it helpful for gaining a view of fields beyond their specialization.

This book explains the metabolic processes by which microbes obtain and control the intracellular availability of their required metal and metalloid ions. The book also describes how intracellular concentrations of unwanted metal and metalloid ions successfully are limited. Its authors additionally provide information about the ways that microbes derive metabolic energy by changing the charge states of metal and metalloid ions. Part one of this book provides an introduction to microbes, metals and metalloids. It also helps our readers to understand the chemical constraints for transition metal cation allocation. Part two explains the basic processes which microbes use for metal transport. That section also explains the uses, as well as the challenges, associated with metal-based antimicrobials. Part three gives our readers an understanding that because of microbial capabilities to process metals and metalloids, the microbes have become our best tools for accomplishing many jobs. Their applications in chemical technology include the design of microbial consortia for use in bioleaching processes that recover metal and metalloid ions from industrial wastes. Many biological engineering tasks, including the synthesis of metal nanoparticles and similar metalloid structures, also are ideally suited for the microbes. Part four describes unique attributes associated with the microbiology of these elements, progressing through the alphabet from antimony and arsenic to zinc.

MICROBIAL FERMENTATIONS IN NATURE AND AS DESIGNED PROCESSES Fermentation is one of the most important metabolic tools that biology has developed and microorganisms in many ways seem to have become the true masters of fermentative metabolism. Each of the fermentative microbial functions evolved to fit an energetic opportunity, and each function has ecological value. This book provides its readers with: Understanding regarding the commonalities and distinctions between aerobic and anaerobic fermentations as performed by microorganisms. A summary of knowledge regarding the ways in which animals and plants depend upon symbiotic interactions with their fermenting microbial partners including the deconstruction of complex polysaccharides. Information is also included about how those natural technologies constitute adaptation into designed processes for anaerobic degradation of lignocellulosic materials. The important role of rhizosphere microbes that facilitate availability of inorganic and organic phosphates for plants. These phosphates get stored in the plant’s seeds. After ruminant animals ingest the seeds, enzymes produced by gastrointestinal microbial fermentation allow the animals to utilize their dietary phosphates. History of how microbial fermentation has been harnessed from prehistoric times to the present for processing and preserving food products for humans and fodder for our domesticated animals. Insight into the ways that microbial fermentations are used as an engineering tool for producing chemicals, including enzymes and pharmaceuticals, which improve the health of ourselves and our domesticated animals. Perspectives on possible future research directions for the field of applied microbial fermentation that will help to advance agriculture and industry.

This collection of essays discusses fascinating aspects of the concept that microbes are at the root of all ecosystems. The content is divided into seven parts, the first of those emphasizes that microbes not only were the starting point, but sustain the rest of the biosphere and shows how life evolves through a perpetual struggle for habitats and niches. Part II explains the ways in which microbial life persists in some of the most extreme environments, while Part III presents our understanding of the core aspects of microbial metabolism. Part IV examines the duality of the microbial world, acknowledging that life exists as a balance between certain processes that we perceive as being environmentally supportive and others that seem environmentally destructive. In turn, Part V discusses basic aspects of microbial symbioses, including interactions with other microorganisms, plants and animals. The concept of microbial symbiosis as a driving force in evolution is covered in Part VI. In closing, Part VII explores the adventure of microbiological research, including some reminiscences from and perspectives on the lives and careers of microbe hunters. Given its mixture of science and philosophy, the book will appeal to scientists and advanced students of microbiology, evolution and ecology alike.

This reference work describes the routes by which disease causing microorganisms are transmitted and how disease transmission is prevented by disinfection and control of microbial growth. The first part of this book addresses the processes of infectious disease transmission and prevention. The second section specifically deals with the prevention of infectious diseases that are transmitted by water or food. The third part considers disease transmission by aerosols, environmental surfaces and medical devices. The final four chapters describe some essential mechanisms of disinfection. Throughout this volume, experts demonstrate how our ability to model the processes of disease transmission and disinfection helps us understand them.

This book summarizes current advances in our understanding of how infectious disease represents an ecological interaction between a pathogenic microorganism and the host species in which that microbe causes illness. The contributing authors explain that pathogenic microorganisms often also have broader ecological connections, which can include a natural environmental presence; possible transmission by vehicles such as air, water, and food; and interactions with other host species, including vectors for which the microbe either may or may not be pathogenic. This field of science has been dubbed disease ecology, and the chapters that examine it have been grouped into three sections. The first section introduces both the role of biological community interactions and the impact of biodiversity on infectious disease. In turn, the second section considers those diseases directly affecting humans, with a focus on waterborne and foodborne illnesses, while also examining the critical aspect of microbial biofilms. Lastly, the third section presents the ecology of infectious diseases from the perspective of their impact on mammalian livestock and wildlife as well as on humans. Given its breadth of coverage, the volume offers a valuable resource for microbial ecologists and biomedical scientists alike.

This volume summarizes recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms that produce successful symbiotic partnerships involving microorganisms. It begins with a basic introduction to the nature of and mechanistic benefits derived from symbiotic associations. Taking that background knowledge as the starting point, the next sections include chapters that examine representative examples of coevolutionary associations that have developed between species of microbes, as well as associations between microbes and plants. The authors conclude with a section covering a broad range of associations between microbes and invertebrate animals, in which they discuss the spectrum of hosts, with examples ranging from bryozoans and corals to nematodes, arthropods, and cephalopods. Join the authors on this journey of understanding!

This volume summarizes recent advances in environmental microbiology by providing fascinating insights into the diversity of microbial life that exists on our planet. The first two chapters present theoretical perspectives that help to consolidate our understanding of evolution as an adaptive process by which the niche and habitat of each species develop in a manner that interconnects individual components of an ecosystem. This results in communities that function by simultaneously coordinating their metabolic and physiologic actions. The third contribution addresses the fossil record of microorganisms, and the subsequent chapters then introduce the microbial life that currently exists in various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Coverage of the geosphere addresses endolithic organisms, life in caves and the deep continental biosphere, including how subsurface microbial life may impact spent nuclear fuel repositories. The discussion of the hydrosphere includes hypersaline environments and arctic food chains. By better understanding examples from the micro biosphere, we can elucidate the many ways in which the niches of different species, both large and small, interconnect within the overlapping habitats of this world, which is governed by its microorganisms.

This volume focuses on those instances when benign and even beneficial relationships between microbes and their hosts opportunistically change and become detrimental toward the host. It examines the triggering events which can factor into these changes, such as reduction in the host's capacity for mounting an effective defensive response due to nutritional deprivation, coinfections and seemingly subtle environmental influences like the amounts of sunlight, temperature, and either water or air quality. The effects of environmental changes can be compounded when they necessitate a physical relocation of species, in turn changing the probability of encounter between microbe and host. The change also can result when pathogens, including virus species, either have modified the opportunist or attacked the host's protective natural microflora. The authors discuss these opportunistic interactions and assess their outcomes in both aquatic as well as terrestrial ecosystems, highlighting the impact on plant, invertebrate and vertebrate hosts.

This book explains the metabolic processes by which microbes obtain and control the intracellular availability of their required metal and metalloid ions. The book also describes how intracellular concentrations of unwanted metal and metalloid ions successfully are limited. Its authors additionally provide information about the ways that microbes derive metabolic energy by changing the charge states of metal and metalloid ions. Part one of this book provides an introduction to microbes, metals and metalloids. It also helps our readers to understand the chemical constraints for transition metal cation allocation. Part two explains the basic processes which microbes use for metal transport. That section also explains the uses, as well as the challenges, associated with metal-based antimicrobials. Part three gives our readers an understanding that because of microbial capabilities to process metals and metalloids, the microbes have become our best tools for accomplishing many jobs. Their applications in chemical technology include the design of microbial consortia for use in bioleaching processes that recover metal and metalloid ions from industrial wastes. Many biological engineering tasks, including the synthesis of metal nanoparticles and similar metalloid structures, also are ideally suited for the microbes.  Part four describes unique attributes associated with the microbiology of these elements, progressing through the alphabet from antimony and arsenic to zinc. 

This collection of essays discusses fascinating aspects of the concept that microbes are at the root of all ecosystems. The content is divided into seven parts, the first of those emphasizes that microbes not only were the starting point, but sustain the rest of the biosphere and shows how life evolves through a perpetual struggle for habitats and niches. Part II explains the ways in which microbial life persists in some of the most extreme environments, while Part III presents our understanding of the core aspects of microbial metabolism. Part IV examines the duality of the microbial world, acknowledging that life exists as a balance between certain processes that we perceive as being environmentally supportive and others that seem environmentally destructive. In turn, Part V discusses basic aspects of microbial symbioses, including interactions with other microorganisms, plants and animals. The concept of microbial symbiosis as a driving force in evolution is covered in Part VI. In closing, Part VII explores the adventure of microbiological research, including some reminiscences from and perspectives on the lives and careers of microbe hunters. Given its mixture of science and philosophy, the book will appeal to scientists and advanced students of microbiology, evolution and ecology alike.

Pathogenic microorganisms exploit a number of different routes for transmission and this book demonstrates how the spread of disease can be prevented through the practices of disinfection and controlling microbial growth. This book, first published in 1996, is organised into four sections. The first section addresses the processes of infectious disease transmission and considers how best to minimise the spread of disease. The second section deals with the prevention of infectious diseases that are transmitted by water or food; transmission by aerosols, environmental surfaces and medical devices is considered next. The fourth and final section discusses some general mechanisms of disinfection. Modeling Disease Transmission includes contributions from leading scientists, who provide a wide-ranging synthesis of the problems and prospects for containing the spread of human infectious diseases.